Be my Savior, and I'll Give you the Fury of my Soul
by SuicideSquad612
Summary: April 1945, the heart of Nazi Germany, a tank crew with the U.S. Army 2nd Armored Division struggles to survive. When during a firefight one of their own is lost and another is badly wounded, a trauma nurse with more fight and fury in her soul than in the tank they call home may be the savior they've all been praying for. Especially for one surly tempered, foul mouthed hillbilly.
1. Chapter 1: Two Men Down

**I wrote this story YEARS ago when Fury first came out. Then my hard drive crashed and I thought I had lost it forever, but looking through old files I found it the other day! I know no one is probably around to read this because the movie is pretty old now, but since Jon Bernthal (Grady) starred as The Punisher, him in his scenes dancing with his wife in uniform got me thinking about this story again. So if anyone is out there, let me know what you think of this. I have quite a bit written, and after pulling the movie out and re-watching it, and then finding my notes, I could continue this for a while. Just let me know...anybody lol I love feedback! **

He was bleeding badly from the side of his head. Crimson sticky liquid mixed with dirt and grease ran down his neck and soaked his shirt. The ringing in his ears deafened him from the rest of the world. He looked at Bible with unfocused eyes, he was apparently screaming something at him, but all Grady could do was blink hard and try to walk as Gordo and Don dragged him towards the aid station.

"Grady goddammit pick up your feet, you're too damn heavy to carry." Don growled in his ear, heaving Grady into a more upright position.

There was no truth in his words though, over the years Don had watched his crew slowly waste away from lack of rations and proper nutrition. Once upon a time Grady had been the biggest and heaviest man out of their crew. He was burly and solid and built like a tank himself.

Now four years into war together, they were all skinnier and sicklier looking than when they met, but Grady seemed to had suffered the worst. He was practically skin and bones now, and his face rarely had any color in it, a testament to being malnourished. The war was hard on all of them, but Grady seemed to have had the hardest time coping with some things, lack of food being one of them. "Grady!" Don barked at him again, "walk big man, c'mon!"

Grady couldn't hear him, he couldn't hear anything. If he wasn't so rattled from the incredible impact his head took, he'd be a little more concerned about his lack of senses. But the world was spinning around him and he was having a hard enough time putting one foot in front of the other at the moment.

They finally made it to the aid station. Gordo and Don released their grip on his shoulders and Grady slid down heavily onto a stack of crates in the corner of the tent. Even skinny, Grady was still a big guy to try to haul around.

"I need a medic right damn now!" Bible screamed. As polar opposites as him and Grady were, they were still the closest of their crew. The gunner and loader almost had to be, they relied on each other for survival. One simply could not function without the other.

When Boyd Swan first met Grady Travis four years ago, his first impression was that of repugnance. Grady cussed way too much, drank like a sailor, and was a degenerate as far as Boyd was concerned. He had no interest in getting to know his new loader, especially after he plastered his side of the tank with pictures of mostly nude women.

That all changed after their first real fire fight though. Boyd was thoroughly concerned that Grady did not have the discipline or mental capacity to keep up with the task of loading shells with efficiency during a real crisis, and he voiced those concerns to his new Sergeant. Don had given him a pointed look and told Boyd he was jumping to conclusions, judging Grady too quick. Boyd did not agree, but listened to his Sergeant nonetheless. Grady thankfully proved Boyd very wrong that day. Their paces matched perfectly, and he never found himself waiting on his loader to yell '_you're clear!'_ when he was already lined up and ready for his shot.

Grady was strong and fast, and surprisingly could anticipate what was needed of him with little instruction from Boyd and Don. Their first stand-off with a Kraut line of tanks and automatic machine guns was a glorious win. After that long first fight, Boyd and Grady shared coffee and cans of beans over a small fire, talking deep into the night like gossiping women. Boyd talked about the Lord mostly, and scripture. Grady didn't care, but still listened intently, trying to be polite to this new gunner that he would be partnered with for the inevitable future. Boyd liked that Grady listened, he was worried that the man would be crass and impossible to have a conversation with. They earned a mutual respect for each other that night, and even though they bickered like an old married couple and got on each other's nerves constantly, Boyd could never see himself shooting with anyone else after that.

Bible grabbed the sides of Grady's face and slapped his cheek hard. "Grady you look at me, you look at me right now man."

He couldn't, he couldn't focus on anything. His vision was full of black spots, and what he could see was doubled and spinning. He tasted blood and mud in his mouth, it made his stomach lurch. Grady closed his eyes tight, begging for everything around him to just stop.

A nurse finally rushed towards them, stopping in front of Grady who was barely able to stay upright. "What happened to him?"

"He got fucking shot in the head" Bible yelped. "How is he even still alive!?"

"Bible c'mon back up, let the lady take care of him." Don grabbed at Bible's shoulders, attempting to pull him away from his best friend.

"No no, don't fucking touch me" Bible grumbled at him through choked back tears.

Grady swallowed hard, the voices around him sounded like he was under water. The mixture of his own blood and dirt caught in his throat and he instinctively lurched forward, violently heaving and retching everything up from his stomach. Arms were around him suddenly, holding him up as best they could. He couldn't see who it was, but he knew it was Bible.

He retched again, more blood came spewing out of his mouth. Did he really swallow that much blood? Or was he hit in the chest too and just couldn't tell.

"Why is he puking so much!?" Gordo yelled at the nurse.

"Probably because he has such a bad concussion." She snapped back. "C'mon, lift him up. Let me see his head." The nurse instructed.

Bible and Gordo pushed on his shoulders, leaning him back against the stack of crates.

"What's his name?" She questioned the group crowded around her.

"Grady. His name is Grady." Bible stated flatly, refusing to leave his side.

She knelt down in the mud and snapped her fingers in front of her patient's face. "Grady, hey, can you hear me big man? Open your eyes hun! Open your eyes Grady!"

He was completely unresponsive to the nurse. Bible grabbed his hand and squeezed it as hard as he could. "Dammit Coon-Ass don't do this!" With all his strength, Grady managed to faintly squeeze Bible's hand back, affirmation that there was still life left in him, and then the little that was left of his senses and awareness faded away.

"He squeezed my hand!" Bible announced, joy jumping back into his voice. "He's there, he's still there."

The nurse pulled a small penlight out of her pocket and lifted each of Grady's eyelids, flashing the light across his eyes to check for a pupil response. "Left eye response is normal. Right is very slow, but still there. He probably has some good head trauma. Let's take a look at this wound now."

She stood from the ground and scrutinized the side of his head. It was so caked with blood and dirt she could barely see where the bleeding was coming from. "You" she pointed at Gordo, "grab that pan of water and the rag." She pointed at the table behind her and Gordo did as he was instructed. The nurse dunked the rag into the basin of clean water and brought it up to Grady's head, roughly wiping away the filth. Grady whimpered and winced in pain, but still didn't open his eyes. Bible squeezed his hand hard again.

"C'mon Grady man, hang in there" Bible's voice shook as he comforted his best friend.

The nurse continued to wipe at the side of his head until she uncovered a huge six inch long gash just above his ear. "Damn, he got hit good. Just a graze though, but a bad one. He's gonna need stitches and antibiotics."

"If it's just a graze then why does he need stitches?" Bible questioned the nurse impatiently.

The nurse sighed, she pressed on the side of Grady's head, he yelped and tried to pull away, but Gordo and Don held him steady. "You see that?" She pointed at his huge head wound, white bone clearly visible through all the blood and mangled flesh. They all looked into Grady's head and then recoiled. "He needs stitches because that is his skull right there. Any other dumb questions?"

Bible mumbled a _fuck_, "no ma'am."

"He's bleeding from his ear too. Eardrum most likely burst from impact."

"You saying he's deaf?" Gordo questioned, voice filled with alarm.

"Temporarily" the nurse nodded. "His hearing will come back with time."

"What's your name, sweetheart?" Don questioned from behind Gordo.

The nurse looked up and met Don's eyes, "Anna" she answered.

Don swallowed hard and nodded, "okay Anna, this here is the best damn gun loader in the whole tank unit. You do whatever you have to to put him back together. We need him, more than you know."

Anna nodded in reply, "I'm short handed so I'm going to need assistance. You keep him still and upright" she pointed at Bible, "and you're going to help me stitch him up." She pointed at Gordo.

Gordo's eyes went wide, "I can't do stitches!"

"Relax" Anna huffed. "I just need you to hand me instruments and bandages."

Gordo sighed loudly with relief, he could do that.

"Stay here with him, I'll be right back." She vanished deeper into the tent to retrieve supplies.

All three men stayed quiet, staring down at unconscious Grady. "What if he doesn't wake up, Top?"

"He will Bible. If anyone can survive getting shot in the head it's Coon-Ass. Tougher than nails this sonuvabitch."

"Not lately" Boyd mumbled back. "War's breaking him Top, I can see it in his eyes."

"War is breaking all of us Boyd. Grady'll bounce back, just give him some time."

Anna reappeared with a pail full of supplies. "I'm going to give him an IV. He's lost a lot of blood and is probably very dehydrated." She grabbed Grady's left arm and pulled up his sleeve, his arms were just as dirty as his head. "Jeez" Anna chuckled, "when's the last time this guy had a bath?"

Bible huffed out a little laugh, "he's our mechanic. He's always filthy."

She dunked another clean rag into a jar of disinfectant solution and wiped down Grady's arm.

"You've got decent supplies here for being in the middle of this shit." Don stated impressively.

"Yeah, 3rd Platoon managed to hijack a Kraut supply truck the other day. So your friend picked the perfect time to get shot." She effortlessly slid the IV needle into Grady's vein and taped it down securely to his arm.

"Shouldn't have gotten shot at all" Bible barked back, anger clearly pointed towards Don. "And then it took us nine damn hours to get here. Him lying in the tank, bleeding all over the place, in and out of consciousness."

"He's luckier than Red, Boyd. At least he's still alive." Don huffed. Bible's head fell in anguish, Red. In his panic and desperation to keep Grady from bleeding out he had completely forgotten about Red. Red whose face was in pieces all over the inside of the tank.

"By the Lord's grace, amen." Bible muttered.

"Here, hold this" Anna handed Boyd the bottle of fluids that was now connected to Grady's arm. "Over your head" she instructed. She poured more disinfectant solution onto his head, saturating the giant gaping wound. "Okay, now it's time to stitch. This is going to need two layers." She dumped the remaining disinfectant over her hands and motioned for Gordo to retrieve the needle and thread from the pail. "Hold him down in case he comes too, I have nothing to numb his head with."

Anna snapped her fingers next to Grady's left ear, no response. She pushed on his sternum hard with her knuckles, still nothing. "He's out." She went to work stitching up his head, movements quick and methodical.

"You've been doing this for a while" Don said, it wasn't a question.

"I've been here since the beginning" Anna replied. Not bothering to look up from her task. "Your buddy here got away fairly unscathed compared to what I've seen."

Bible sniffed loudly, forcing back tears.

"Hey, he'll be fine" Anna reassured him. "His breathing is mostly normal and the bleeding has stopped. He's not in danger of dying anymore." Anna finished the first layer of deep tissue stitches. She clipped the thread with a small pair of triage scissors and went to work on the outer layer.

Anna tisked, "this may not look the prettiest once it's healed. The bullet really ripped through him."

"I don't think Coon-Ass is particularly worried about looking pretty" Don laughed. Gordo and Bible joined him.

"Coon-Ass?" Anna half laughed at Grady's nickname while she stitched up his head.

"This _puto_ is backwoods redneck. Like fuck his own cousins redneck." Gordo teased.

"He told us one time he was out trapping raccoons, and one got away from him, turned and bit him right in the ass." Bible laughed out loud. "He had to go to the hospital and get all the rabies shots in his stomach."

"Coon-Ass" Anna smirked. "That's good." She clipped the last thread and blotted her work with a clean gauze pad. "Okay, he's done." She wiped the remaining blood out of his ear, checking to see if the inside was still actively bleeding. It wasn't, but she was pretty sure his eardrum was ruptured from the amount of dried blood.

"I have nothing for pain, but I do have to give him an antibiotic injection." She pulled out a syringe and bottle of penicillin from the pail. "Ideally this should go in his ass, but I don't think moving him so much is a good idea right now, so I'll just give it in his arm."

"Wow, penicillin" Don said, clearly impressed. "You guys really did hit the jackpot."

"Yes sir we did." She drew up the scared antibiotic from the glass bottle and stuck the needle into Grady's bicep. "I have a second bottle of fluids for him once he's done with that one. And get him some food once he wakes up, he's too skinny."

"It's really quiet in here" Gordo observed out loud, eyes scanning the tent.

"Yeah, we don't get many survivors this far up North." Anna answered. "Usually the boys I get are beyond my help, or already dead. Grady's one of the lucky ones." She rubbed her patient's shoulder affectionately. "You can lay him down and let him get some rest now. Let him come too by himself, the fluids will help."

Don grabbed a tarp out of one of the crates and laid it out in front of Grady. "Hold his head Bible" Don instructed. Gordo grabbed his legs and Don hooked his arms under his shoulders, they lowered him slowly down onto the tarp while Boyd held his head steady. "He'll probably be out for a long time, let's go clean up and get some chow."

"No I'm gonna stay with him" Boyd announced firmly. He peeled off his coat, rolled it up and tucked it gently under Grady's head as a makeshift pillow. He sat down on the tarp next to Grady's head, leaned back against the crates, and held the bottle of fluids still attached to his arm as high as he could.

"Alright Bible," Don patted his shoulder knowingly. "We'll bring you back some food and a blanket."

Bible nodded back with a thanks. He settled in, laid his free hand on Grady's chest, intent on monitoring his breathing, and relaxed back into the crates.

"Don't you worry Grady" Boyd mumbled to his unconscious best friend. "Lord's watching over you tonight, and so am I."

Boyd focused on the shallow but steady rise and fall of Grady's chest, and drifted off into a restless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: Bible Stands Vigil

Bible sensed movement from next to him and woke with a start. It was the nurse, Anna.

"Sorry, I was trying not to wake you." She was replacing the bottle of fluids hooked up to Grady's IV. She set the fresh one on top of the crates over his head so gravity would continue to feed it into his vein.

"It's okay." Bible coughed and blinked hard, "how is he?"

"The same" Anna replied. "But it's only been six hours. I don't expect him to wake up until sometime tomorrow at the earliest." She rubbed Grady's sternum with her knuckles again, hoping for some kind of pain response. Still nothing.

"What is it that you are doing to his chest?" Boyd questioned her.

"Your sternum - breastbone" she said in layman's terms "is the most reactive area to painful stimuli. Usually someone who is unconscious will come around when you apply significant pressure to their sternum."

Boyd eyed Grady's limp body anxiously, "so is it bad-" he swallowed hard, "is it bad that he's not waking up when you do that?"

Anna shook her head. "No, not after the amount of trauma he sustained. I'm not worried about it." She pulled out her penlight and checked his eyes again. "His pupils are still reacting to light, so that's a good sign. Even though his right eye is still a little slow."

Boyd nodded in understanding as Anna moved around her patient's body. Kneeling down next to Grady's head, she checked her stitch job with the penlight. "Looks good." She wiped the wound clean once more with a disinfectant soaked gauze pad before placing a bandage over the stitches and taping it in place. "Lucky his head is half shaved already, saved me the work of doing it."

Boyd finally noticed the blanket draped over him and the box of rations and thermos of coffee placed at his feet.

"Your friends were here a while ago to check on you both" Anna answered his puzzled look. "They said something about getting some sleep and checking on you again in the morning."

Boyd stretched his legs and reached for the cardboard box and thermos, careful not to jostle Grady's head.

"You can go find a cot and get some real sleep if you want" Anna offered. "I'll watch him through the night."

Boyd shook his head as he unscrewed the lid of the thermos. "No ma'am. I'm not leaving him."

She observed them both curiously for a moment. Grady lay limp and unconscious, but his breathing was definitely getting stronger, and Bible sat guard next to him, sipping lukewarm coffee and fumbling with his rations box. "He's your best friend, huh?" She questioned quietly.

Boyd gave her a little half smile, "you don't get to choose your friends when you're at war. Grady would probably be the last person on earth I'd seek out as company to keep in the normal world. But sometimes, it's the ones you are least expecting that turn out to be your closest friends." Boyd patted Grady's chest tenderly.

"Four years now our crew has been together. We started in Africa, and made it all the way out here. This big dumb hick has saved my life more times than I can remember, because that's just the kind of man he his. Throws himself in front of bullets to shield you from fire. Tackles you to the ground and protects you with his own body when there is no where to go for cover. Other people may call Grady a mindless animal, but he is the most loyal and protective person I've ever known."

Anna smiled warmly at Boyd, "he sounds like quite a man. I can't wait to meet him once he wakes up."

Bible snorted out amused laugh, "he'll probably try to grope your ass and ask if you want to go to bed with him." Anna laughed out loud at Boyd's honesty.

"I'm warning you now, he is an animal. He's much more pleasant when he's unconscious." They both giggled quietly, Grady didn't even stir.

Anna shook her head in amusement, "Alright Boyd, Bible? You get some sleep. I'll look in on you two first thing in the morning."

"I appreciate that ma'am" Boyd gave her a nod as she stood from the ground and disappeared into the back of the aid tent. Boyd shoved some crackers down his throat and drained the last of the coffee. He made sure Grady's IV was still running and his head was supported well enough, and he pulled the blanket covering his friend up to his chin before settling back into the stack of crates. Without even thinking about it, Boyd placed his hand back on Grady's chest to monitor his breathing once more. He pulled his own blanket tightly around his body before quickly drifting back off to sleep.

The next morning Boyd was woken up by a harsh kick to his boot. He jumped a little at the unexpected contact, and found Don standing in front of him, holding out a warm bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee. Boyd quickly accepted both from his Sergeant.

"He wake up at all during the night?" Don asked, nodding at Grady.

Boyd shook his head, "he's been out all night."

"Probably for the best, he needs the rest. Nurse was already by to check on him. Gave him more fluids and checked his pupils again, she said he was still fine all things considered."

Boyd nodded, sipping at the blissfully steaming cup of caffeine. He checked Grady's arm under the blanket, it was bruised a deep purple from the huge needle stuck in his vein, but it looked good otherwise. He carefully centered his head back on his coat, making sure the bandage was still secure over his stitches. Don watched Boyd's movements from the other side of the tent curiously.

"Boyd, you've sat with him all night. Why don't you go get some fresh air? Take a bath, have a cigarette. I'll stay with him."

Boyd shook his head fiercely "no I ain't leaving him."

Don sighed with frustration, "Bible he's not gonna die. Go, get out of this tent. I will holler for you if he so much as twitches."

Boyd shook his head again, silent tears running down his face. "I saw that gun aimed right at us. I should have told them to hit the deck. It's my fault Red's gone, and my fault Grady has brain damage and a hole the size of the Grand Canyon in the side of his head."

"Bible c'mon" Don chastised him. "It's not your fault, how could it be? Even if you had seen the gun a moment earlier, nothing was gonna stop it from piercing the tank. Those were high velocity anti-tank rounds." He paused, taking a long swallow from his own cup of coffee. "I know Red's got us all a little sad right now. But Grady is still alive, and he doesn't have brain damage." Don chuckled under his breath, "if anything, that good of a blow to his head may have knocked some sense _into_ him."

Bible smiled and laughed half-heartedly, "he wakes up and he's some kind of philosopher or mathematician."

Don barked out a laugh too, "wouldn't that be something to see."

They fell quiet for a long moment, lost in their own thoughts. Bible recalled the sounds the bullets made when they hit his friends the other night. Red got hit first, his face sounded like a popping balloon on impact. They were all panicked and screaming when the second bullet came whizzing through the tank, tearing through the side of Grady's head. Grady yelped at the bite of the bullet and then he was down, blood pouring out of his skull like an open water faucet. Boyd thought for sure he was dead too and dropped down to his knees next to his best friend, tears already freely flowing from his eyes. '_No Grady no no.'_ He pleaded desperately. He put a hand on his chest to feel for a heartbeat and leaned down to his mouth to listen for breathing. '_He's still alive! Top! Grady's still alive, gimmie a bandage or a rag! Anything!' _

"Boyd," the sound of his name snapped Bible back to reality. "Go on Boyd, go get a smoke and take a walk. I'll watch him." Don ordered.

Bible wiped the tears from his cheeks and nodded slowly. "Alright." He swallowed hard, "alright, 15 minutes and I'll be back."

He looked down at Grady's unconscious body one last time, gave his chest a soft pat, and stood to leave. "Top," he spoke softly to Don, "you may be the glue that holds us all together, but he's our guardian." He pointed at Grady. "We all have our parts to play. We need him just as much as he needs us."

Don smiled warmly and nodded in agreement, "I know Bible, I know."

Boyd pulled back the flap of the tent and walked out. Don was sure he'd be back in 15 minutes and not a second later. He sat down on the crates next to Grady's head. "You better wake up soon Coon-Ass. You've got us all rattled and worried."

Grady let out a soft moan and stirred a little from the ground. Don smiled again, even wider. "That a boy."


	3. Chapter 3: Grady Reborn

Hours later, Grady's eyes finally fluttered open. He was still and quiet, confused and in an immeasurable amount of pain. He didn't dare move his head, it was pounding so hard he felt like it was going to explode. His vision was blotted and blurry, but the most concerning thing he realized was the silence. He moved his eyes around slowly, from what he could gather he was in a medic tent. He watched nurses and other soldiers bustling around him, but he couldn't _hear _anything.

His gaze finally fell on Boyd who was sitting at the top of his head, eyes focused on his little pocket bible. Grady swallowed hard and attempted to speak, it came out as a garbled moan, but it was enough to grab Boyd's attention. He looked towards Grady, finally realizing his eyes were open. Boyd threw his bible to the ground and whirled around, kneeling at Grady's side.

"Grady hey. Hey buddy, you're awake." Boyd spoke to him softly. Grady's eyes followed his lips, but he heard nothing. "Grady, say something man, please? Are you okay?" He lifted his head and yelled further into the tent. "Anna!" Boyd screamed, "he's awake come quick!"

Grady kept his eyes on Boyd, watching his mouth move but hearing no words. His heart rate picked up a little bit, was he deaf? Brain damaged? He racked his badly bruised brain for answers to what was happening. He faintly remembered seeing Red's face scattered all over the tank, and then agonizing pain ripping through his own head, and darkness. His memory was blank after that.

His left arm ached something terrible, he couldn't see why though, turning his head was not an accomplishable task at the moment. He used his right arm to grab at Boyd's shirt, trying again to form any words. Garbled nonsense was all he managed to create. Boyd held both sides of Grady's head, eyes locked with his own. His lips kept moving, but Grady heard nothing.

A nurse appeared over him. A young, beautiful brunette with striking blue eyes. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, little splotches of dirt smeared all over her face, and the front of her apron was covered in blood. It was a lot of blood, he hoped it wasn't his. She met his eyes and smiled down warmly at him. Her mouth moved as well, but her words were silent. She turned to Boyd and said something that made Boyd frown and shake his head.

The nurse looked back to him and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. She lifted a single finger in front of his face and moved it slowly across his line of vision. Grady knew what she was asking, he tracked her finger with his eyes obediently until he lost it in the darkened right side of his eyesight. She smiled at him again and he thought her lips said '_that's good'_ but he couldn't be sure. She moved her hand over to the left side of his head, he turned slowly to follow her, wincing at the movement. She snapped her fingers next to his left ear, and then did the same to his right. Grady shook his head faintly, confirming that he couldn't hear anything. Boyd's mouth moved again, and all Grady could do was stare back at him blankly.

The nurse poked at his left arm and he yelped out in pain. Did he get shot in the arm too? He felt a piercing bite and then pressure on the inside of his elbow. Grady watched her roll up tubing and grab an empty bottle of fluids off the crates over his head. Oh, an IV, that made sense. Grady's head still pounded in agony, and his mouth was dry and sticky. He wanted so badly to ask for aspirin and some water, but every time he opened his mouth, he could form nothing but incomprehensible nonsense. Tears rolled down Boyd's cheeks, he squeezed Grady's shoulder again and nodded reassuringly at him. The darkness began to creep back into Grady's head, and he was out once more.

"I think he just passed out again" Boyd mumbled to Anna.

Anna placed two fingers on Grady's neck, checking for a pulse. "He's okay" she nodded. "His pulse is strong now, I gave him four bottles of fluids." She patted Bible on the shoulder, "he just needs time Boyd. He was awake and coherent. He followed commands and gave responses. His brain isn't a scrambled egg. Next time he wakes up he'll be more alert, just let him sleep."

Boyd nodded at her instructions and returned to his spot next to Grady's head. He grabbed his bible out of the mud, wiping it clean on his pants. He opened it back up and found his place. "Dammit Grady" Boyd mumbled to himself, eyes never leaving the scripture on the pages in front of him.

It was almost 24 hours later when Grady finally opened his eyes again. He blinked hard a few times, forcing his vision to focus, he still had a huge dark spot in the corner of his right eye. Turning his head slowly, he found Don and Gordo playing cards at the table on the other side of the tent. He looked up, and Boyd was in the same spot he was the last time he was awake. He swallowed hard, preparing himself to make an attempt to speak. He wasn't a turnip, he could form words, and he would dammit. "Boyd" it was quiet and hoarse, but it was intelligible.

Bible's head shot up in shock, he looked down into Grady's open eyes and smiled. "Grady? Did you just talk?" Bible's voice was high and alarmed, and best of all, Grady could hear it. Sounds were still very muffled and muted, and he could only hear out of his left side, but he definitely heard Boyd speak.

Grady swallowed painfully again, "yeah, I did." His response made Boyd jump up from his spot on the ground like he was sitting on dynamite.

"Can you hear me!?" Bible screeched. Grady winced hard at the unexpected loudness.

"Ow, yeah I can hear ya," he mumbled, slurring his words a little bit.

"Top! Gordo! Get over here!" Bible shouted, making Grady wince again.

"Jesus Christ Coon-Ass" Don said smiling down at him, he patted Grady hard on the shoulder. "You sure know how to scare the shit out of us."

Grady chuckled a little but it turned into hard coughing. "Gordo, why don't you go get Anna, and some water and aspirin for Grady." Don instructed. Gordo nodded and slipped away into the tent. "I'm gonna step out for a smoke now that we know you're not brain damaged." He smirked down at Grady again, "you're a beast Coon-Ass!" Don yelled over his shoulder as he left the tent.

"Can I sit up?" Grady groaned, trying to push himself up with his elbows. But Boyd put his hands on both his shoulders to stop him.

"Whoa, let's have Anna check you out first bud." Bible smiled at Grady's tenacity.

Grady studied him confusion, "Anna?"

"The nurse that has been taking care of you for the past three days." Bible answered.

"Shit, three days? That how long I been out?" Grady sighed long and loud.

"Better part of it, yeah" Bible mumbled. "How are you feeling?"

"Feel like I got shot" Grady chuckled. "How bad is it?"

"Besides the giant hole in your head and a busted eardrum, you're fine. Anna says your hearing will come back with time."

"An' what 'bout my eyesight?" Grady questioned hesitantly.

"Can you not see?" Bible sounded alarmed.

"Got a good blind spot in my right eye" Grady gestured at his face. "The rest of it's a little blurry too."

Bible swallowed hard, "we'll have to ask Anna about it. We didn't know you couldn't see."

Grady smiled faintly, eyes distant, "an' Red?"

Bible's face fell, "Red's gone, Grad. He was gone the moment we got hit."

Grady nodded, eyes brimming with tears, "yeah that's what I thought. I jus' couldn't 'member for sure."

Bible looked up and saw Anna walking towards them with a glass of water in one hand and a bottle of white pills in the other, Gordo trailed close behind her holding a jar of disinfectant, bandages, and tape.

"Listen here Grad, this nurse has been tending to your every need for the past three days. She's kind and caring and so damn sweet, so how about you not act like a pig for once and be a respectful gentleman, can you manage that?"

Grady smiled mischievously, "Boyd. You gotta crush on this girl?"

Bible rolled his eyes, "Coon-Ass I mean it. Perfect gentleman."

Grady held his hands up in surrender, "scouts honor."

"What's this I hear about our patient being awake and talking?" Anna appeared next to Boyd, smiling warmly down at Grady. It was the same beautiful brunette he faintly remembered from the last time he was conscious. Grady's heart did something weird when he saw her. Flutter? Skip a beat? Nonsense.

"I ain't dead yet I guess" he replied, smiling back. He wondered how awful he looked all of a sudden. Covered in dirt and blood, Grady didn't really care much about personal hygiene these days, but in that moment all he could think about was finding a toothbrush and scrubbing his mouth out til his gums bled. Weird what comes to mind when a beautiful girl is staring down at you.

"Grady right? Nice to finally meet you." She knelt down in the mud next to his head, her ocean blue eyes shining brightly at the sight of him alert and functioning. "And you can talk and hear this time! How are you feeling?"

"Head's poundin' like a jackhammer, I'm starvin' and I've gotta piss like a racehorse." He stated matter of factly and Bible shot daggers at him.

Anna chuckled, "well I did give you four bottles of fluids and you've been unconscious for three days. Let's do something about that headache though, you feel like you can sit up?"

"I think so," Grady groaned, obviously sore from lying on the ground in the same spot for three days. Bible and Gordo came up behind him, ready to pull him up by his shoulders.

"Slowly, slowly" Anna instructed. "Grady you feeling dizzy? Lightheaded?"

Grady shook his head, "not yet at least." Bible and Gordo carefully helped him sit up and lean back against the crates. He closed his eyes for a long moment and hummed to himself, begging the world to stop spinning and his stomach to stop doing flip flops. How much of that was nausea from the concussion or from Anna's eyes on him, he didn't know.

"Dizzy now?" She chuckled.

"Little" he answered quickly.

"Gonna puke?" She questioned.

"Tryin' not to" he mumbled back.

He sat quietly with his eyes shut tight for another moment before finally daring to open them. She was kneeling right in front of him, barely four feet away from his face. His heart did that weird flutter thing again, what the hell was that? Did he take a hard blow to the chest and not remember? He shifted uncomfortably at her closeness, once again very aware that he probably smelled like roadkill that had been sitting ripe in the sun for days.

"Well, hello mister brown eyes" she grinned at him. He couldn't help but smirk back, his stomach flip flopped again. That time it definitely wasn't nausea.

She reached for his hands, "squeeze my fingers" she instructed, and he obeyed. "Harder" she said. He squeezed again. "Is that really all you got or are you holding back because I'm a woman?" He squeezed her fingers one more time, putting some actual strength into it. "Good" she praised him.

She pulled the penlight out of her apron pocket and clicked it on. "Look straight ahead." She flashed the light into his left eye, "pupil response is normal" she announced. Bible was still sitting next to him and Gordo was standing off to the side. She did the same thing to his right eye, "response is still delayed in that eye, but it's there."

"I can't see" Grady told her. She looked at him, puzzled. "There's a big black spot in my right eye."

"Follow my finger, don't move your head. Tell me when you can't see it anymore." She held out a single finger and moved it from left to right in front of his face.

"There" he said as she got halfway past his right eye. "It's gone."

She sighed quietly, studying him carefully.

"Is it gonna be like that forever?" He questioned her.

Anna shook her head, "it could just be residual trauma from getting hit, but I'm not an eye doctor, so I don't know for sure Grady." She snapped her fingers next to his right ear, "anything?" Grady shook his head. She moved to his left ear and snapped again. He recoiled at the sharp sound. "Well at least that side is working" she smiled warmly at him, it was infectious. He couldn't help but smile back. And there went his heart again, '_stop that'_ he said to himself.

Anna reached for the glass of water and bottle of pills that were set on a crate behind Grady's head. Her closeness caught him off guard and he froze like a frightened deer. Besides the blood covered apron, her uniform was fairly clean and certainly didn't smell like a rotting carcass. His stomach and heart flipped and fluttered at the same time. '_What the hell is that all about!?'_ She handed the water to Grady and he grabbed it quickly, took a huge gulp and swished it around in his mouth for a good minute before turning to the side and spitting it out in the mud. Anna fumbled with the pill bottle, watching Grady's actions curiously. He swallowed down half the glass of water in one gulp, leaving just enough liquid to swallow the four aspirin she deposited into his filthy hand. God he was gross, it was a surprise she had even touched him. He threw the pills into his mouth and downed the last of the water. He handed the glass back to her with a small smile, "'ppreciate it." He mumbled.

All of a sudden screams of agony erupted from deeper into the tent. "_Anna get over here we need you!" _A voice called for her over the screams, it sounded like the boy who took five shots to his leg this morning was finally awake. She had worried that his femoral artery was punctured, and the wailing of pain mostly confirmed that.

"Alright Grady, you look good considering you got shot in the head. I still need to clean your stitches and rebandage your head, but I have to go deal with that right now." She nodded towards the screams. "There is an empty cot right over there with your name on it. When you feel up to it, have Boyd and Gordo help you stand and get some rest. I'll come check on you again later." She grabbed both his hands and gave them an affectionate squeeze before turning and scurrying away to go help with the screaming boy.

Grady muttered a quiet "bye" at her back and watched her walk away with what was probably the stupidest most shocked expression on his face, He gulped hard, at a complete loss of words. Here, in Nazi Germany, in the middle of the worst fighting, suffering, and anguish he had ever seen, with a bullet wound to his head so bad he was literally knocked senseless, did a woman just steal his heart right out of his chest? He shook his head hard, attempting to rid the ridiculous feelings from his mind. He was horny, that's all. He needed a piece of fine ass to use however he wanted and then just walk away.

Boyd's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "See Coon-Ass, I knew you had manners buried deep down in that thick skull of yours." He clapped Grady hard on the shoulder. "How's about we get you into that bed and get you some food?"

"Boyd?" Grady swallowed hard, eyes still focused on the spot where Anna had disappeared.

"Yeah?" He eyed his friend with concern.

"You know how your always talkin' 'bout being saved an' havin' Jesus save your soul?"

"Yeah Grad, I do." Bible knelt down next to his best friend, curious about where the conversation was going.

Grady hesitated for a moment before looking over at Boyd. "Does it hafta be Jesus that saves you every time? Or can it be a woman that saves your soul?"

Bible stayed quiet for a long moment, absorbing Grady's words, "the Lord can choose whoever He sees fit to do His work, as long as He feels they are worthy." A small smile crept up to his lips. "Grady, why you asking me about Jesus? I know you don't give a shit about your soul being saved."

Grady stayed quiet, eyes wide and for the first time in a long time, bright with life. "Coon-Ass, are you love struck?" Boyd's smile grew wider and Grady scoffed at him.

"Nevermin' forget I said anythin'."

"No no, I get it Grad. You had a near death experience and Anna saved you." Bible watched Grady smile stupidly to himself. "Coon-Ass are you sweet on her?"

"She's beautiful," he mumbled, barely above a whisper.

"Grady, that's not the type of girl you take to bed once and then just forget about." Gordo chastised him.

"I don't wanna take her to bed once an' forget 'bout her." Grady looked up at Gordo, sincerity clear across his face.

Bible laughed out loud, "look at you. Like a love sick puppy-dog, We're up to our eyeballs in Nazi's and you're sweet on a nurse! I asked you to be polite, not fall in love with her!" Gordo and Bible laughed raucously at him.

"What's going on?" Don shouted at his crew from the door of the tent.

"Coon-Ass has a hard on for the nurse!" Gordo shouted, teasing Grady.

"Well I don't blame you, she's very pretty." Don chuckled. "How'd you check out, Grad?"

He shrugged, "I'm half blind an' half deaf, but still in one piece."

Don smiled slowly, "glad to hear it bud. We got 48 hours of down time before we move out. Grady, your ass doesn't leave this tent unless it's to piss or we get rained on. You understand me?"

"Yessir" Grady nodded in reply. Honestly, it was the best news he'd ever heard, he didn't particularly want to leave the tent, at least not yet.

A private stuck his head through the open flap. "Sergeant Collier?"

"Yeah?" Don turned to face the boy.

"Captain is looking for you."

Don nodded and turned back to Grady, "you've got 48 hours to eat and sleep as much as you can and get your strength back. I need you Coon-Ass, we all need you." He spun on his heel and stalked out of the tent.

Boyd and Gordo came up and stood in front of him. "Alright big man, you ready to try standing?" Bible couldn't help but sound concerned.

"Yeah," Grady sighed. "Guess now is best time as any." Grady pulled his knees up to his chest, ready to plant his feet as Gordo and Bible both hooked their arms underneath his shoulders and heaved him up. They held onto him tightly for a moment as Grady swayed and stumbled, his head spinning like a twister. He felt like he was losing consciousness again as his back slammed hard into the crates behind him.

"Hey Grady, c'mon now. Take it easy." Bible comforted him. "You gonna pass out?"

Grady leaned heavily against the crates and swallowed hard, begging the spinning to stop. "Tryin' not too" he mumbled. Bible and Gordo had a strong grip on his arms, it was probably the only reason he was still upright.

"Alright Grad, let's get you over to the bed, c'mon." Bible pulled on his arm tenderly.

Grady shook his head, "nah, help me outside. I gotta take a piss an' I need a smoke."

Bible nodded, "alright bud, nice and slow. One foot in front of the other." Boyd and Gordo held onto him tight as he tested his balance and began moving forward. To his surprise, with his friend's help, he managed to stay upright and walk. "I ain't holding your dick for you while you piss, Coon-Ass." Bible snarked at him. Grady chuckled hard and his knees gave out a little, dizziness threatening to collapse him.

Boyd wrapped an arm around his waist and hoisted him back up, "C'mon Grad, pick up your feet." They finally made it outside, the German supply truck 3rd Platoon had hijacked was parked just to the left of the tent. They led Grady over to it and he leaned against the hood of the truck for support as Bible and Gordo slowly let go of him. "You got it bud?" Bible's voice sounded almost motherly.

Grady snorted, "Yeah I got it." Using the hood to keep his balance, he shuffled over to the other side of the truck for some privacy to take a piss. It was a struggle to get his cover-alls unhooked, but he was finally successful. He may have been half blind and so dizzy he felt like he was on a high speed carousel, but whether it was his pride or his own damn stubbornness, he was not going to ask his friends for help with this.

"Coon-Ass don't fall in your own piss now, we ain't giving you a bath." Gordo shouted at him, half laughing.

Grady slowly managed to rehook his cover-alls and stumbled back around the truck towards his friends. "Eat me Gordo," he snarled. His head was really starting to pound again, and the blindspot in his right eye was extremely frustrating, he had no peripheral vision and it bugged the shit out of him. There was another stack of supply crates neatly situated just outside the aid tent, he eyed it as a good place to sit down and rest. Bible and Gordo reached their arms out for him, but he waved them off. "I said I got it" he growled at his friends. He let go of the truck, attempting to stand upright, and immediately regretted it. His knees hit the ground hard, but Bible and Gordo were at his side in an instant, catching him from face planting into the mud. "I guess I don't got it" Grady chuckled. "Shit."

"Give yourself a break Grad, you just got shot in the head." Bible said to him. "C'mon big man, back on your feet." Boyd and Gordo lifted him in unison and Grady was able to find his footing and stand with the support of his friends. They led him over to the stack of crates and set him down heavily. Grady held his head in his hands and sighed loudly, internally screaming at his brain to stop spinning.

There was a tap on his right shoulder and he jumped in surprise. Bible had been calling his name and he didn't hear it. "Shit bud, I'm sorry I forgot." Boyd said as he came around to face Grady. He stuck a cigarette in between Grady's lips and lit it for him.

Grady nodded a thanks to him and sucked the nicotine smoke into his lungs. "This is fuckin' bad Bible" Grady sighed. "I'm completely fuckin' blind an' deaf on one side. How'm I supposedta fight? Cover you guys? I'm fuckin' useless." He blew out a long breath of smoke.

Boyd shook his head, "You're being too hard on yourself, Grad. Top says we've got 48 hours before we mount up. You need a few good meals and as much sleep as possible and you're vision and hearing will come back."

'I'm gonna go get you some hot chow Coon." Gordo squeezed his shoulder comfortingly and turned to head towards the kitchen tent.

"Thanks Gord" Grady called to him.

Bible stayed quiet for a long moment, watching his best friend suck on the cigarette and struggle to keep himself balanced on the crate. "I thought you were dead, Grad." Bible sniffed hard. "I saw that bullet rip through your skull, blood squirtin' everywhere, I swear I thought you were gone."

Grady met Boyd's eyes, his own shining with unshed tears. "I don't 'member. I can barely recall Red gettin' hit, like its a movie I'm watchin' from real far away, but that's it." Grady shook his head in despair. "What happens if my hearin' an' sight don't come back Bible?"

Boyd thought over his words carefully, "then you stay at a base camp and be the mechanic."

Grady snarled at him, "an' let you guys go back out there without me? Are you fuckin' serious? I'm just 'pposed to pussy out?"

Boyd shook his head purposefully, "it's not gonna happen like that Grad. Christ has bigger plans for you, you're alive for a reason. Your works not done yet. You need time to heal, quit being so hard on yourself."

They fell quiet for a moment before Boyd continued, "besides, staying here wouldn't be such a bad thing, would it? That nurse Anna has taken quite a liking to you, Lord only knows why, you heathen." He smiled widely at Grady and lit his own cigarette.

Grady chuckled and sucked down the last of his cigarette before flicking it into the mud. He motioned to Boyd for another one. "That's 'cause you told me to behave myself, an' I listened."

Boyd huffed out a laugh, "see, look what happens when you follow orders for once." They both laughed at that and Grady almost slipped off the crate. He managed to catch himself and stay upright.

"Easy bud, easy" Boyd said. He stuck another cigarette into Grady's mouth and lit it before sitting down on a crate across from him.

"You like her?" Boyd questioned flatly, and Grady smiled.

"Course I like her. She's beautiful, prolly the only kind an' caring creature in this whole fuckin' godforsaken country."

"You know she's not a whore to just use and walk away from." Bible's voice was stern.

Grady nodded, "I know, I know...maybe I don't just wanna use her."

They fell silent again, sucking on their cigarettes, watching the infantry and officers scurry around camp. Everyone always seemed like they were in a hurry to get somewhere or get something done. Like their own personal task or assignment was going to be the thing that finally ended the war. It felt good to just sit for a moment and not worry about hustling off to somewhere.

"Hey Boyd," Grady finally spoke up. "You think you can do me a favor?"

"Hmm, what's that Grady?" Bible answered him.

Grady hesitated for a moment. "How hard do ya think it'd be to find a toothbrush an' some toothpaste? Maybe a bar of soap? An' some clean clothes?" He said sheepishly.

Bible gawked at his best friend with utter fascination. "Lord Almighty. Coon-Ass, do you wanna take a bath?" A wicked smile spread across his face.

"Shut the fuck up" Grady grumbled at him. "Can you do it or not?"

"By God's grace I can and will certainly do it!" Bible slapped his knees with excitement and stood quickly. "Praise Jesus, Grady wants to take a bath and put on clean clothes! I guess that means the war is over!"

Grady rolled his eyes and flicked the butt of his second cigarette into the mud. "Hey! Gimme 'nother smoke!" Grady called to him, but Boyd was already halfway across camp on a mission to find him toiletries and clean clothes.

Gordo walked back up to him a moment later, a plate full of rice, beans, and a half a loaf of bread in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. "Where's Bible going?" He questioned, handing Grady the food and coffee.

Grady snorted, "hunt down supplies to rebaptise me it sounded like." Gordo furrowed his brow in confusion. He was going to ask Grady what the hell that meant, but he was already inhaling the food like a starving dog, so Gordo shrugged and just let it go.

"Hey, look what I swiped from Peterson's pack." Gordo pulled a tin of tuna out of his pocket and tossed it at Grady, who completely missed the catch.

Grady gave him a disgruntled look, "I'm fuckin' half blind asshole, don't throw shit at me!"

Gordo muttered a "sorry" and retrieved the tuna from the mud, handing it to Grady this time.

Grady held the can close to his face, and then far away, trying to get his eyes to focus on the writing. He finally made out the word 'tuna' and smiled back up at Gordo. "Are you shittin' me? Peterson 'll kill you if he finds out it was you."

"Doesn't matter" Gordo replied. "You need the protein, you're too damn skinny. Eat it."

"Gimme yer knife, I don't got nothin' on me." Gordo handed him his switchblade. Grady flipped it open and stabbed the can viscously. He worked off the top of the tin and dumped the tuna onto his rice, mixing it together quickly before scarfing it down.

"Hey hey take it easy Grad, you're gonna make yourself sick to your stomach." Gordo warned. Grady didn't listen, he didn't care. He was so hungry he would have eaten the food on his plate if it was covered in maggots. Plus, he was tired of everyone commenting on how skinny he was. Grady had never been scrawny in his entire life, he needed to eat and beef himself back up so he didn't look like all it would take was some cocky kid fresh off the truck to knock him out. Grady all but licked his plate clean and then tore into the huge hunk of bread.

"Where's your food?" Grady questioned Gordo through a mouthful.

"You just ate it" Gordo answered him flatly. Grady paused mid chew and gave Gordo a guilty look.

"Why did you do-"

Gordo cut him off, "don't worry about it." He waved off Grady's concern. "You just got shot, you need it more than I do." Grady nodded with gratitude and bit off another chunk of bread.

Bible came sprinting back towards them a moment later. Head ducked low and a pack that obviously wasn't his thrown over his back.

"Bible, what the hell are you doing man!?" Gordo questioned a little too loudly.

"Shhh keep your voice down Gordo! Goodness." Bible hushed him.

"Where'd you get that Boyd?" Grady smiled at his friend, mouth still full of food.

"Fresh meat right off the truck. He set it down and then turned his back. Fair game as far as I'm concerned." Bible tucked himself behind a couple of stacked crates next to Grady and undid the straps on the pack. He huffed out a laugh under his breath. The pack was stocked full of everything Grady wanted. Brand new soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, straight razor and shaving cream. Clean, neatly folded army issue green and tan clothes, fresh socks, hell there was even clean underwear in the pack.

"Ho-ly shit" Grady declared, looking into the stuffed pack. He was in awe of Bible's act of transgression. "The clothes gonna fit me?"

Bible nodded, "I scoped the guy out. He was only a hair taller than you and almost as skinny." Grady rolled his eyes again, he was gonna eat six meals a day for the next two days if he could. "Coon-Ass, prepare to be reborn son." Bible smiled up at Grady in triumph.


	4. Chapter 4: Almost a Gentleman

Almost an hour later Grady slowly shuffled out of the showers, nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. Using the walls for support, he made his way over to the benches in the locker room to sit down. Gordo and Bible were leaning against the far wall, noses buried in a magazine and newspaper. They were there in case Grady passed out or needed help, but they still did their best to give him some space and privacy. Grady sighed loudly and began digging clean clothes out of the stolen pack. He was exhausted from the simple task of showering, but it was so worth it to feel clean for the first time in months.

He had scrubbed himself so thoroughly with the soap and washcloth from the pack he felt like he had taken an entire layer of skin off his body. He washed his hair twice, careful to avoid the stitches in his head. The bandage had gotten soaked and fallen off though, but Anna had said she needed to clean and rebandage the wound anyway. Brushing his teeth was the best part. He stood in the shower and squirted toothpaste into his mouth straight from the tube. He scrubbed his teeth and gums until his mouth was literally bleeding. He spit out the blood, squeezed more toothpaste into his mouth and kept on brushing until he was finally satisfied that his mouth was rid of the months of tobacco stains and food residue. He had decided against shaving, especially with a straight razor. His eyesight was way too fucked up to even try, and he wasn't going to ask Boyd or Gordo for help. They had done enough for him. He barely had a 5'oclock shadow covering his face anyway.

"How you doing over there Grad?" Bible called to him. Grady couldn't hear him over the running water of the showers and the other soldiers laughing and talking in the locker room. "GRADY!" Boyd shouted at him.

"What!?" Grady barked back at him, clearly losing his patience.

"Just checkin' to make sure you're doing okay" Bible yelled at him.

"Yeah I'm alright, dizzy as fuck." He snorted.

"You need help getting dressed?" Bible questioned carefully.

"No I fuckin' do not! I'm not a fuckin' baby Boyd." Grady snarled.

"I never said you were a baby Coon-Ass," Bible scoffed at him. "You just said you were dizzy. I don't want you passing out."

"I got it" Grady mumbled. He pulled on a clean pair of boxers and unwrapped the towel from around his waist. He threw it over his shoulders to dry off his chest and back. The pants fit well enough, the waist was a size too big but thankfully there was a belt in the pack too. He cursed at himself again for being so skinny, he wondered if he could swipe another meal from the kitchen later. He dried his hair with the towel as carefully as he could, the entire right side of his head throbbed in agony. As he pulled the white undershirt over his head, he accidently raked the fabric against his stitches. He hissed out in pain, and Boyd pushed himself off the wall to go to him, but Gordo grabbed his arm and shook his head.

"Don't coddle him, he's got it."

Boyd nodded slowly, fighting back tears again. "He almost fucking died, Gordo. Forgive me if I'm a little worried about him."

"I know he almost died, Boyd. He was right behind me when he got hit. I had blood all over the side of my face from Red, and then his blood all down my back. You don't have to remind me that he almost died. But look at him, Bible. He's right there. He's alive, walking and talking. He looked death in the face and laughed at it. You gotta stop hovering over him."

"Boyd" Grady's voice called to him quietly. Bible looked quickly at Gordo, who shrugged in reply. He went to Grady's side, the left this time to make sure Grady could hear him.

"Everything okay Grad?" Boyd questioned him cautiously.

Grady swallowed hard, "I can't see to do the buttons." He mumbled, sounding defeated. The clean tan uniform shirt he had put on over the white undershirt lay open against his chest.

"Well that's okay bud." Bible kneeled down in front of him and began buttoning his shirt. "You know what I think? I think you need a good long nap, and when you wake up, your eyesight will be good as new."

Grady nodded slowly, his eyes distant and frustrated. "You think so?"

"Oh I know so. You've done enough moving around today. Let's finish getting you dressed and get you back to the aid tent for a nap." Bible smiled up at his friend, comforting him as best he could. "Look at you all cleaned up Coon-Ass. Anna ain't even gonna recognize you not covered in grease and dirt." Boyd laughed, and Grady couldn't help but chuckle a little too. "You could almost pass for a respectable gentleman." He finished buttoning Grady's shirt and gave his chest a good pat. "Can't get your socks on either?"

Grady snorted out a laugh, "was worried 'bout bendin' over. Nose divin' into the ground."

"You still that dizzy Grad?" He questioned, grabbing the socks off the bench and pulling them on Grady's feet.

"There's 'bout six a you right now" he laughed. "Feels like I'm in a fuckin' tilt-a-whirl."

"Couldn't get your belt either huh?" Bible reached for Grady's waist and buckled his pants belt.

Grady laughed, "told ya I was useless. Can't see shit."

"Hey, stop that now." Boyd said sharply to him. He helped Grady slip his feet into his boots, not bothering to lace them. He was just going to take them back off once they got back to the aid tent anyway.

"Alright big man, good as new. Let's get you up. Gordo!" Bible called and Gordo pushed himself off the wall and came to Grady's right side. They lifted Grady to his feet again, giving him a second to find his bearings. Bible grabbed the stolen pack off the ground and threw it over his other shoulder. "You good?" Grady nodded in confirmation, and the three of them stumbled out of the locker room, still needing to keep a hold on Grady for him to stay upright.

_Fury_ was parked just a few hundred feet away from the showers. They shuffled passed it, heading back towards the aid tent, when Don's harsh voice caught all their attention.

"_God dammit! Who told you this!?" _He was shouting at a very young, frightened looking boy wearing a crisp clean uniform and a pack on his back. The boy couldn't have been a day over seventeen.

"_Master Sergeant with the clipboard, there."_ The boy replied, stuttering as he pointed back over his shoulder in the direction he had come from.

"_Bullshit!"_ Don snarled at him.

Bible, Grady, and Gordo stopped a good 40 feet away, watching the very tense interaction between Don and the young boy silently.

"What the fuck you think is goin' on over there?" Grady muttered quietly to Boyd.

"I don't know Grad, but it doesn't look good."

"_What's your name?"_ Don asked the boy, sighing loudly.

"Let's go check it out" Gordo said, pulling on Grady's arm. Grady moved to step forward, but Bible didn't follow.

"What's goin' on?" Grady asked, he didn't hear what Gordo had suggested from his right side.

"Gordo wants to go over" Bible answered him.

"Shit, yeah. Let's go find out what the hell is goin' on." Grady took another step forward, but Boyd resisted, holding him back.

"No Coon-Ass. You're supposed to be in bed resting." Boyd said sternly. "Top will ring all our necks if he sees us dragging you around camp."

"_Norman,"_ the boy answered Don's question quietly. Boyd and Gordo heard him, Grady didn't.

"I think that's supposed to be Red's replacement." Bible stiffened at Gordo's words, Grady still couldn't hear him.

"C'mon" Bible pulled Grady back towards the direction of the aid tent. "Let's not get our asses chewed out today, not on top of everything else."

"HEY!" Don's voice bellowed through the camp. Bible, Grady, and Gordo stopped dead in their tracks and turned to face their Sergeant slowly. Don was glaring daggers at them. "You three! Stooges!" He pointed aggressively at his crew. "Get your asses over here, now!"

"Shit" Grady chuckled, "we're in the doghouse now."

"Shut your mouth Coon-Ass if you know what's good for you." Bible mumbled into his good ear. They walked slowly over to Don and _Fury_, dragging Grady along with them.

The three of them stopped in front of Don and the new kid, staying silent as they watched their Sergeant fume.

"Why is that idiot out of bed!?" He shoved an accusing finger at Grady.

"Sir, he just wanted to-"

"I don't care what he wanted!" Don barked, cutting Boyd off. "What did I say? Do orders mean nothing to you mongrels!?"

The crew stayed quiet, heads down in submission. Don was livid, between this new kid that he had just been saddled with, Grady with his head ripped in half, and Gordo and Boyd who couldn't follow simple instructions, his patience was running very thin.

"Well since the gang's all here, let me introduce you to our new assistant driver." Don's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Norman, this is Bible, our gunner. The big dumbass with the crater in the side of his head, that's Grady. He's our loader. And Gordo, our driver. Boys, this is Norman. He's been in the army for eight weeks, as a clerk typist." Don said matter of factly, angrily spitting into the mud.

Bible and Gordo mumbled a very unenthusiastic 'hello' to the boy. Grady stayed quiet, sensing from Don he was in the biggest trouble out of the three of them.

Don swallowed hard, attempting to control his temper. "Now the two of you better take him back to the aid tent and put him in bed right fucking now."

"Yes Sir."

"Yessir."

Gordo and Boyd answered immediately. They turned to drag Grady back to the aid tent, but Don stopped them shortly.

"Wait a second" Don growled, "Coon-Ass come here." He grabbed the front of Grady's clean shirt and pulled him hard towards the new kid. Grady almost lost his footing, but Don shoved an elbow into his stomach, keeping him upright. Grady winced hard, choking back tears.

"You see this!?" Don grabbed Grady's face with his free hand and turned his head harshly. Grady couldn't help but to yelp out in pain. Bible took a step forward, intending to intervene, but Don shot daggers at him.

"You see this kid!?" He held Grady's head hard, making sure Norman got a good look at his huge wound in the side of his head. Grady whimpered in pain, tears rolling down his cheeks. "This is what happens when you don't follow orders!" Don shouted. "You get yourself shot! You know how close this idiot came to dying!? Millimeters. Not inches, not feet. This retard thought it was a good idea to take his helmet off before we had cleared the area of Krauts, and a bullet ripped through his skull like a butter knife. A few more hairs to the right and Grady's brains would have been splattered all over the inside of the tank!"

Grady's knees began to give out, and Don hoisted him back up with one arm. He gave Grady's chest a good shove and he stumbled backwards into Gordo and Boyd's waiting arms. Grady's face was wet with sweat and silent tears, his stomach threatened to empty its contents as Bible and Gordo tried to steady him.

Don spun back to Norman, his face uncomfortably close to the terrified boys. "Do your job, and do as you're told, and you won't end up getting shot like that giant dumbass, you understand me?"

Norman nodded fervently, his own unshed tears pooled in his eyes. "Yes-yes sir."

"You two!" Don's tirade wasn't done yet it seemed. "Take Coon-Ass back to the aid tent, put his ass in bed and come back here to give Norman a run down of the tank."

Gordo and Boyd nodded. Gripping Grady tightly, who was barely holding onto consciousness, they nudged him forward, encouraging him to move.

"Hey Grad, you okay bud?" Bible comforted him. Grady could only whimper in pain and focus on putting one foot in front of the other. They made it back to the aid tent with a little struggle, Grady kept losing his balance, threatening to collapse. Gordo and Boyd deposited him onto an empty cot in the tent, his head hitting the pillow with a soft thud. "Grady, you awake man?" Boyd called to him. Grady responded with a weak 'mmm' and then almost immediately passed out. Boyd pulled off his muddy boots, swung his legs onto the bed, and shoved the stolen pack underneath the cot. Gordo found a pitcher of water and an empty glass on a nearby tray. He filled the glass with water and set it on Grady's bedside table. They both gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze before leaving the tent to let him sleep. Their instructions from Don were to go teach the new kid the ins and outs of the tank. They'd be back to check on Grady later.


	5. Chapter 5: Anna

**I guess some people are reading this! Review for me please! Anything! ...Bueller...? **

**Grady/Anna fluff**

It was hours later before Grady finally regained consciousness. It took a moment for his eyes to finally open and focus as best they could, his vision still hadn't improved much. He did see the glass of water waiting for him on the small table next to his cot. He grabbed it and swallowed the liquid down in three big gulps. It was then that he realized he was alone. Boyd wasn't sitting vigil next to his bed this time. He figured he was out in the camp working on _Fury_, teaching the new kid as much as could be taught in 48 hours.

Grady propped himself up a little in bed to survey the aid tent. It was still pretty empty and quiet, about a dozen beds including himself were occupied. He finally caught a glimpse of Anna scurrying around the tent, tending to the other patients, and the flutter in his heart came right back. Her chocolate brown hair was starting to fall out of the messy bun she had it tied in, but even with his compromised eyesight Grady could see her piercing blue eyes shining brightly, like diamonds catching the sun.

He smiled as he watched her take vitals and replace fluids for IV lines, clean and bandage wounds, and check to make sure everyone was as comfortable as possible and in the least amount of pain. He considered himself a low priority patient now that he was able to somewhat see and hear, so he was content with lying in bed and watching her bustle around the tent for a while. It seemed like there was always someone calling for her or asking her for something, she never stopped moving.

It was getting close to dinner time, Grady watched the sun start to fall in the sky from the open flap of the tent. He hoped Boyd and Gordo would be back with more food for him soon, he was starting to get hungry again. Anna finally stopped dead in her tracks in the middle walkway of the tent, she scanned the area quickly with a very puzzled look on her face.

Grady finally decided to speak up. "Lose someone?" He called to her, she was only standing two beds away from his, but facing the other direction. She whirled around at the sound of his voice, hand thrown over her heart. "Sorry" he mumbled, "didn't mean to scare you."

Anna looked him over in complete shock, "Grady!? Wow, look at you all cleaned up!" She smiled that infectious smile, clearly impressed at the sight of him. She approached the foot of his bed and gave him a good once over. "I was actually looking for you. Damn I must have walked right by ten times and didn't even recognize you" she laughed. "You certainly clean up well sir, how are you feeling?"

Grady smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He was happy to hear she approved of him clean and respectable looking. "Little better I guess. Head's still poundin' an' I'm dizzy as fuck."

"I can fix that" Anna nodded. She grabbed the pitcher of water and bottle of aspirin off the work tray across from his bed. She refilled his empty glass and sat down at the end of his bed. Grady shifted his long legs over to make more room for her on the tiny cot. "Here" he held out his hand and she deposited four more pills into his waiting palm. He tossed them into his mouth and swallowed down a mouthful of water.

"Thanks darlin'" he said almost shyly, and she couldn't help but smile and chuckle at him under her breath.

"I have to do a vitals check on you, and then those stitches need to be cleaned and rebandaged." He nodded obediently and sat up in bed a little straighter. She grabbed for his hands, and his stomach flip flopped once again, boy was he in trouble. "Squeeze" she instructed, and he did so. Anna raised an eyebrow and gave him a pointed look, "c'mon Grady. Squeeze." He did again, and she nodded in approval that time.

"What's that test for anyway?" He questioned her curiously.

"It's to make sure the left and right side of your brain are communicating evenly. Since you took such a hard blow to the right side of your head, I'm watching for deficits."

"Deficits?" That was a big word for a simple man like Grady.

"Delays" she explained further. "Problems with your motor function and response time." He nodded at her, still not completely understanding, but he didn't want to sound like anymore of an uneducated moron than he already was. "How's your eyesight?" She questioned.

"Better" he replied. "Blind spot is still there, but everthin' isn't so fuzzy an' unfocused."

"That's good" she patted his leg affectionately, and his heart fluttered. He was in big, big trouble. Anna pulled the penlight out of her apron and checked his pupil response. "Right side is definitely improved from earlier." She held a single finger in front of his face. "You know the drill, tell me when it's gone."

Grady watched her finger float across the front of his face, "there" he said. Her finger stopped in almost the exact same place as earlier. She tried to hide her look of concern. "Still not any better?" He questioned her quietly.

Anna shook her head, "not yet. But you still haven't been awake that long. Let's give it some more time." She snapped her fingers next to his right ear, "still nothing?"

"Not a damn thing" he answered, smiling sadly at her.

"Hey" she squeezed both of his arms comfortingly, "your hearing is gonna take a while to come back, but it will come back. I promise." Anna met his eyes and stared into them for a moment longer than what would be considered just friendly support, or was he imagining it? "Okay, let's check your breathing and your blood pressure, clean your stitches and then get you some chow, sound good?"

"Sounds great" his big brown eyes never looked away from her face. Grady studied her carefully, she was that effortlessly kind of beautiful. Her hair didn't need to be perfect and she didn't need to be wearing loads of make-up. She had true beauty, even exhausted and war torn, she was always smiling and glowing with warmth.

"Unbutton your shirt hun" Anna instructed as she pulled a stethoscope out of her apron pocket.

He hesitated for a moment, "I can't see the fuckin' buttons" Grady admitted to her. "This is so goddamn frustratin'. I'm completely fuckin' useless."

"Hey" she shuffled herself closer to him on the bed and reached for his face. Holding his cheek and forcing his deep brown eyes to meet her bright blue ones. "You are far from useless, Grady. You were shot. In the fucking head. Cut yourself some slack." She smiled warmly at him and he managed to give her a small grin back.

Anna reached down and started unbuttoning his uniform shirt. "When your friends dragged you in here the other night, you were drenched in blood and white as a sheet, you were literally on death's doorstep. I couldn't get any response out of you, and then I saw your head. I thought for sure you were gone. I could see your skull, Grady, that's how bad the bullet ripped through you. Another breath to the right and you would have been dead."

"Guess I got the devil watchin' my back huh?" He chuckled.

"Or maybe an angel." Anna smiled at him. She slipped the earpieces of the stethoscope into her ears and reached down his undershirt, pressing the diaphragm to his chest. He jumped in surprise at the cold metal touching his skin.

"Sorry" she huffed a few breaths onto the small metal circle, warming it up before setting it back on his chest. "Big deep breaths for me hun" she instructed. He inhaled deeply and exhaled a few times as she moved the stethoscope over his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat. Anna nodded in approval, "Sounds good Grady."

"Yeah?" he questioned her hesitantly.

"Yep, your heart sounds great."

So the fluttering thing was definitely not an issue with his heart. It was a direct reaction to Anna and her breathtaking smile. He stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded by the realization of his feelings. He was supposed to be a battle hardened soldier, a Kraut killer with no conscience or remorse. And here he was, sitting on a cot in a medic tent with a beautiful woman three feet away from him, and his heart was melting like putty.

"Grady, what's wrong?" Anna studied his face with concern.

Grady shook his head hard, attempting to ignore the overwhelming feelings that were consuming him. "Nothin'...I'm fine."

Anna reached back towards him and began to re-button his shirt, and his heart did it again. _What in the fuck is goin' on!?_ She finished the last button and gave his chest an affectionate rub. Was he imagining things, or was she being really touchy feely with him?

Grady watched her closely, her features were delicate and peaceful and her eyes were always filled with a kindness he couldn't understand. Even when she had been stitching up a man's leg who was screaming and swinging at her, she still did nothing but soothe and comfort the wounded soldier. He was relieved he had been unconscious when she stitched him up, considering how bad his head wound sounded he probably would have been bawling like a baby if he was awake for it.

"Okay hun, blood pressure check, bandage change, and then let's get you some food. You're too damn skinny." She chuckled and Grady rolled his eyes again, but smirked at her with a snort instead of scowling.

"So I've been told," he huffed out a laugh. "I'm workin' on it. It's not always easy to find decent food truckin' across this fuckin' wasteland." She slipped the blood pressure cuff onto his arm and secured it tightly.

"I bet you played football in high school, huh" she said to him as she adjusted the cuff on his arm. "You're certainly built for it."

"Yeah, I did." She was making small talk with him, he liked it. "Tight end."

Anna nodded, "my brother was a running back."

"He here too somewhere?" He meant somewhere in Nazi occupied Europe fighting, but she knew that.

She shook her head, "he's in the Pacific fighting the Japs, joined up after Pearl Harbor."

"So...he's still alive?" Grady questioned carefully.

Anna sighed, "last letter I got from him was over six weeks ago, so I can only hope." She went quiet for a moment, pumping up the blood pressure cuff. "What about you? You got any brothers over here?"

"Nah, I'm the only boy. Alls I got is a bunch a little sisters."

She laughed at that, "big brother Grady huh? No wonder you guard your crew with your life." He smiled at that, thinking of his three younger sisters back home, he hadn't seen them in years.

She held the stethoscope inside his elbow, counting his pulse. Grady stayed quiet while she concentrated. She pulled the earpieces out of her ears and smiled at him, "you're pulse is great. I'd say you dodged a bullet, but you didn't." They both chuckled at her corny joke.

"Yeah and I'm gonna have the scar to prove it!"

"Okay, this part may sting a little" Anna motioned for him to lean forward. "Gimme your head hun."

Hey obeyed, leaning towards her hesitantly. "How bad this gonna hurt?" She sensed some nervousness in his voice.

"A lot less than getting shot, I can promise you that." Anna snorted, "I'll be gentle, I know your head is sore."

She cupped his chin and turned his head gently so she could get a good look at the wound. It was huge, starting at his temple and running almost to the back of his head. Her stitch job was impressive though. He would definitely have a scar, but not a huge deformity in his head from improper wound care. If he let his hair grow back in it probably would end up not being very noticeable at all.

"Damn I am good" she muttered to herself. Sure she was only a nurse in the Army, but back home she was a surgeon. Apparently though, according to the Army, her patients had to walk and talk, and they more barked and moo'd. Being a veterinary surgeon meant nothing to them, even though her skills far surpassed that of an average nurse.

"Whadja say?" Grady questioned, turning back to face her. Just like Boyd, she had forgotten he was temporarily deaf on the right side.

"Hmm? Oh nothing, I was just admiring my stitch job."

"Pretty proud a yourself huh?" He smirked at her.

"Hey you will be too when you don't look like Frankenstein's monster for the rest of your life!" She laughed and gave his shoulder a little shove. "Turn your head now, c'mon."

Grady turned his head back and she dipped a gauze pad into a jar of disinfectant and began blotting at the stitches gently. He hissed in pain, but didn't jerk away. The entire right side of his head was varying shades of purple and red from trauma. He winced and whimpered a little when she hit especially tender spots, but he was determined to hold still for her and take it like a man.

"Your ear was bleeding again," Anna said loud enough that he didn't have to turn his head.

"That bad?" Grady questioned hesitantly.

She wiped the dried blood out of his ear and sighed, "Did you-" she started to speak to him, but remembered again he couldn't hear her. She grabbed his chin gently and pulled his face back towards hers. "Did you run into anything? Hit your head? Boyd and Gordo jostle you around a little too much by accident?"

Grady froze, remembering Don grabbing him and screaming at him earlier to prove a point in front of the new kid, Norman. He had a good bruise to his gut from his Sergeant's elbow, but couldn't remember if Don had hit him.

"Grady?" Anna called to him.

He jumped a little at her voice, "uhh, Top - I mean Sergeant Collier, he may have whooped on me a little bit for bein' outta bed earlier."

Her face changed instantly to concern and irritation. "Your Sergeant beat on you with this severe of a head injury because what? You wanted a shower and clean clothes!?"

Grady snorted, "he did tell me to stay in bed." He rubbed his stomach, bruise tender and aching from Don's elbow.

Anna watched his movement's curiously, "Grady. What's wrong with your stomach?" Her voice was low with suspicion.

He shook his head and dropped his arm, "nothin', I'm fine."

Anna raised an eyebrow and gave him a pointed look. She reached for his waist and slowly pulled up his uniform and undershirt to reveal a giant purple bruise in the middle of his gut. She sighed hard and look at him sternly, "Grady, this is not okay." She pressed on the bruise gently and he winced hard. "Did you puke up blood again?"

"No I didn't puke" he mumbled. "I was pukin' blood before!?"

Anna nodded, "when your crew first dragged you in. Doubled over and puked right at my feet. I think it was just blood running down from your head that you accidentally swallowed. You didn't have any internal injury symptoms...Not then at least." She gave him a hard glare, clearly annoyed with the way Don had treated him.

Grady couldn't help but laugh, "great first impression huh? Nice to meet you 'scuse me while I hurl all over your shoes."

Anna chuckled back, "well in your defense you were practically unconscious, so I don't think it really counts." She grabbed a bandage and tape off the tray and turned his head again. She pressed the bandage across his stitches and he choked back a whimper of pain. "Sorry hun" she soothed. She ripped off strips of tape from the roll with her teeth and secured the bandage to his head.

"How long you been over here?" Grady asked her, trying to keep his focus off the pain.

"I landed on the beach with the first wave" she replied. "Those were some bad days, hard fighting. Lost a lot of good boys on that beach."

He nodded knowingly, "we hit the beach 'bout a week later. We were prolly right behin' you. We saw it, all the death an' destruction."

"Boyd said you guys were in Africa before that?" She questioned curiously.

Grady smirked mischievously, "you were talkin' to Bible huh?"

Anna laughed, "hey Coon-Ass you were unconscious for a very long time!" He laughed hard at her use of his nickname. "Tell me please," said sputtered through giggles, "how does one manage to get bit in the ass by a raccoon!?" She stuck the last pieces of tape to his head and teasingly nudged his shoulder.

He snorted hard, "I'm gonna kill Boyd I swear!"

"Hey! What did I do that deserves such harsh conviction!?" Bible called to him from the front of the tent. He was holding a plate of food in each hand as he approached Grady's bed. Gordo followed closely behind with a plate of his own and a cup of coffee, and finally the new kid, Norman, trailed in a few paces behind Gordo holding two plates as well.

"Evening Anna" Bible nodded at her. "This animal behaving himself for you?"

"He's been a perfect gentleman Boyd" Anna smiled her infectious smile up at Bible, and Grady couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.

"Holy shit, a perfect gentleman?" Gordo laughed out loud. "I didn't know Coon-Ass was capable of such a thing!"

"Shut the fuck up Gordo" Grady growled, eyeing the plates of food. "One a those mine? 'Cause I'm fuckin' starvin'."

"Here Grady" Gordo handed over his plate of spaghetti with meatless tomato sauce, potatoes, and a half loaf of bread. It was obviously a double portion of food. Grady gave him a pointed look and Gordo just shook his head. "Eat it Grad." Was all he said. He pulled a small folding chair over to the side of Grady's cot and sat down, sipping his steaming hot coffee. Norman handed Gordo a plate with much smaller portions of food.

Anna moved to get up from Grady's bed, "well I better get back to work, I'll leave you gentlemen to it. He checked out great by the way" she informed the crew.

"No no, please join us" Boyd replied quickly. He held the second plate he was holding out towards her. "We figured you hadn't eaten yet. Please." He nodded back down to the bed, urging her to sit and enjoy a meal with them.

Anna smiled hesitantly, accepted the plate with a small "thank you" and sat back down next to Grady on his bed. Boyd found another flimsy folding chair and sat down next to the bedside table. Norman, who had been staying quiet, pulled a crate over and sat as well.

Grady had already been shoveling food into his mouth the moment Gordo had handed him his plate. Boyd finally caught him and snapped harshly at him. "Coon-Ass! You can't even wait until I say Grace?"

He paused mid-chew and looked up at Boyd like a child who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Grady swallowed his mouthful of food down hard, "sorry Boyd."

Bible lowered his head, and they all joined him. "Dear Lord, thank you for providing this meal for us during such trying times. Thank you for bringing us Anna who has worked so tirelessly to heal Grady's injuries. Thank you for keeping the rest of us alive and healthy during this war, and thank you for saving Grady's life, even though he is an ungrateful heathen who can't wait until I'm done saying Grace to eat!" Grady dropped the hunk of potato back down on his plate, trying to pretend Boyd didn't just catch him sneaking food during Grace.

"Amen!" Bible barked a little harsher than usual, glaring at Grady. They all responded with a chorus of '_Amen'_ before digging into their meals.

Grady didn't just eat his food, he inhaled it. "Lord Almighty Coon-Ass take a breath" Bible chastised him. "You're gonna make yourself sick." He didn't listen though, and shoveled more food into his mouth.

Anna giggled at him, "Grady sweetheart slow down. The food's not going anywhere!" Grady slurped up a long piece of spaghetti and swallowed hard, all manners completely lost to him.

"See Anna, what did I tell you? Complete animal." Bible scoffed.

"I'm fuckin' hungry" Grady growled through a mouthful of food. "Was waitin' on you guys forever."

Gordo shook his head, "Top had us teaching the kid how to clean the 50."

Grady stopped eating all of a sudden, his fork hit the plate with a clatter and looked up at his crew, face full of confusion. "It's my job to clean the 50." Everyone went silent for a moment while Grady stewed. "Is this little shit replacin' me?" He pointed an accusing finger at Norman.

"C'mon now Grad, calm down." Boyd said sternly. "He's not your replacement, he's Red's. Don had him doing everything today. Punishment for us mostly."

"Does that have anything to do with the softball sized bruise on Grady's stomach?" Anna questioned the crew pointedly.

"Yeah, Top, may have lost his temper a little bit." Gordo admitted, "and Coon-Ass is his usual target for getting beat on."

Anna turned to Grady, concern etched across her face. Was his Sergeant mistreating him? "Why are you the usual target for beatings?"

Boyd snorted, "cause most of the time he deserves it." She turned to Bible with a surprised look. "That's right. Don't let the bath and the innocent smiling he's been doing fool you. Grady has the innate gift of aggravating the shit out of practically everyone he crosses paths with."

"Top says it's his defense mechanism because his Daddy used to beat him when he was little." Gordo added.

Grady snorted loudly and wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his clean uniform shirt. "Thanks for that Gordo" he snarled.

Norman watched their interaction silently, picking at his less than appetizing meal, he was surprised to see the other guys, and even the nurse eating it so enthusiastically. The food available at headquarters had been significantly better.

"So how's the kid doin'?" Grady questioned sharply. "Gonna get any us killed once we're out there?" He turned towards the kid, "you ever fire your weapon before, _Norman_?"

Norman hesitated before answering. Grady was almost as intimidating as Sergeant Collier. Probably more once he was healed and back to normal, he thought. "Not-not since basic training." He stuttered out.

Grady rolled his eyes, "that's fuckin' great. I just got shot and they give us a fuckin' infant as second driver."

"Grady!" Anna's voice was hard and surprised. "Give the kid a break. I'm sure he'll do fine when the time comes."

"Oh yeah? What the fuck do you know 'bout it?" Grady snapped at her. "You out there on the front killin' people!? You gettin' shot at every fuckin' day, riskin' your life in this hell hole?"

"No" she replied, her voice low and cold.

"No, yer not" Grady snarled. "Yer sittin' here in your nice warm tent, fetchin' people water and puttin' bandages on boo-boos. What the fuck you know 'bout war?"

Anna swallowed hard, "I've seen my fair share of battle, Grady. I've done what I had to to keep myself and my comrades alive. When bodies are dropping faster than you can help, you're not much use as a medic out in the field. So you grab a Thompson off the first dead body you see and do what you have to to survive. What was asked of you by your country." Silent tears fell down her cheeks as she relived the horror of Normandy. "And now I do my job, which is to save as many men as I can from death. Aren't you lucky Grady?" She stood up from his bed quickly, aggravation clear across her face. "Now if you'll excuse me _gentlemen_," she emphasized the word as she glared down at Grady. "Boyd, Gordo, Norman. Have a good night." She turned on her heel and stalked away without another word.

"Great job Coon-Ass" Boyd mumbled at him. "Another fine display of despicable behavior from you." Grady didn't answer, he cleaned his plate with a hunk of bread, soaking up tomato sauce before shoving it in his mouth. "Why did we even bother cleaning you up and trying to make you presentable for her. Maybe you are nothing but a mindless animal." Boyd snarled at him.

Grady snorted and stuff the last piece of bread in his mouth. "Shut the fuck up Bible."

**If you're reading please review! I need to know what you think, gives me insight on where I should go with it!**


	6. Chapter 6: Amputation at Midnight

**If you're reading and enjoying please review! *clap clap* give me feedback so I know it and my chapters will surely show it, if you're reading and enjoying please review! lol**

The rest of the crew left Grady in the medic tent shortly after his childish outburst. Disgusted with his behavior in front of Anna, Boyd stood abruptly from his seat next to Grady's bed and left without another word. Gordo and Norman followed closely behind him. Gordo was kind enough to toss a comic book on his bedside table before leaving the tent, it was an issue of Captain America. Grady figured they wouldn't be back to see him again tonight, and that Don probably wouldn't come to visit at all, especially after spending the day riding Bible and Gordo as punishment for blatantly ignoring his direct orders.

Grady picked up the comic book and flipped through it lazily, mostly just looking at the pictures, before throwing it back down in frustration. He was aggravated with himself for treating his friends so badly, but he felt awful about the way he spoke to Anna. Grady didn't know why he had snapped at her like he did, especially when she had just told him she was on the beach on D-Day. He knew she had seen real combat and had fought hard against the Kraut battalion, firing a weapon and battling on the beach next to real soldiers, who knows what else she had done to survive. Maybe Boyd was right and he was just a mindless animal with no regard for anyone else's feelings. But Anna had been genuinely kind to him and concerned for his well being, a concept Grady was not very familiar with.

It was starting to get late, the sun had completely set and the moon and stars were bright in the sky. Anna had made many rounds through the tent, but never once stopped to check on Grady again. Bedside lamps began going out one by one, signaling that the other patients were turning in for the night. It was going to be a cold one that night, the sides of the tent shook harshly in the wind. Anna made one final lap around the tent, passing out extra blankets to all the patients. She threw a folded blanket onto the end of Grady's bed and he mumbled a "thank you" to her, but she didn't even look his way.

"Anna, c'mon. Please jus' stop for a minute?" Grady pleaded to her. She froze dead in her tracks and spun around slowly to face him. Her face cold and emotionless for the first time he had ever seen.

"Do you need something, _Private Travis_?" Her voice was sharp, almost venomous. Clearly she was still very unhappy with him. Grady couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes, an instinctive reflex from when his father had been in a hitting mood when he was young.

"I jus' wanted to 'pologize, for how I acted earlier." He mumbled quietly. "I dunno why I was such a asshole to you...blame it on the brain injury."

"You don't _have_ a brain injury" Anna snapped back.

Grady faltered, "right."

"Is that all, Private Travis?" Anna sighed loudly. "There is going to be a bad storm tonight, I have a lot to do."

Grady swallowed hard, "What's with the formality all a sudden? Can't call me by my first name no more?"

"No I think it's best that I don't." She huffed back. "Look, I patched you up. I saved your life, that's it. That's my job in this war. I'm sorry I'm not out in the trenches mowing down Krauts with my Thompson day and night, but my job is just as vital. I felt for you because you were so close to dying, and I managed to save one of you for once. That doesn't happen very often anymore, especially so deep in Kraut country. So I let myself get too close, and care about you too much. The whole being sweet and polite and cleaning yourself up may have just been an act for you, but I fell for it, hook, line and sinker. Nurses have to have boundaries with their patients for that exact reason, no matter the situation."

Grady remained quiet, not knowing how to respond. She had cared about him, he wasn't imagining it. And he went and fucked it up like the dumbass he was. Gordo was completely right about him being an asshole as a defense mechanism. As soon as Anna had started to remind him that he was human and allowed to have feelings, the ill-tempered animal in him reared its ugly head, and bit hers right off for no reason. He completely deserved her cold shoulder.

Anna rolled her eyes at him when he never responded, "now if you'll excuse me. There is more aspirin on your bedside table, I'll check on you again in the morning Private Travis." She turned on her heel and stalked away without another word.

Grady mumbled a quiet '_fuck me'_ to himself, and picked up Gordo's comic book off the bed to flip through it again.

It was hours later when a voice next to Grady's bed almost made him jump out of his skin. "Heard you were a real douchebag to the nurse earlier." Don said, his voice low and scolding.

Grady set the comic book on his bedside table and gave Don an uneasy look. "Yeah...made a fuckin' jackass outta myself." He said shyly.

Don snorted, "figured you would've sooner rather than later Coon-Ass, seeing as you were raised by rabid coyotes."

He held a plate of food out towards Grady, which he accepted hesitantly. "I already had dinner" he admitted submissively.

"You gonna turn down a hot meal? Eat that, you're too damn skinny." Don ordered. Grady didn't blink twice, he attacked the plate like a starving animal and Don sat down in the folding chair that Boyd had left next to his bed, sipping his steaming coffee. "Easy, easy Grad. You're gonna make yourself sick." Grady didn't listen to him, this was the third plate of food he had inhaled today, and he hadn't gotten sick yet. Don watched him quietly, sipping on his coffee. Grady looked better, besides being the cleanest Don had seen him in probably years, he had color back in his face and a fresh bandage covering the massive wound to the side of his head.

"So the bath and the clean clothes. That was for the nurse?" Don questioned plainly. Grady stopped mid-chew and looked up at Don, meeting his Sergeant's eyes. He nodded slowly, remembering the whooping Top had given him earlier that day for being out of bed, all to impress a girl he ended up insulting anyway.

Don half laughed, "well I gotta say, I'm surprised you cleaned yourself up, for anyone."

Grady shrugged, "doesn't matter now. My big fuckin' mouth fucked it all up."

"You weren't raised any better, and she knows that" Don said. "Give her some time to cool off and go back to being as kind as you can manage, she'll come around."

Grady nodded, listening as he finished off the plate of food Don had brought him. He set the empty plate on the bedside table, and looked at his Sergeant earnestly. "An' what if she don't forgive me? She saved my life an' I treated her like shit."

Don sighed loudly, "you sweet on this girl, Grady? For real? You're not just chasing tail here?"

Grady shook his head, "you think I'm stupid? Fallin' for a girl in the middle a all this? We could go back out there tomorrow and get shot down dead. Am I bein' foolish?"

"The heart wants what the heart wants, Grad. Don't let something stupid like this little pissing match between Hitler and Roosevelt put a stop to your life. The war is gonna be over, very soon. I can feel it. What are you gonna do afterwards? Go back home to the states and marry some Nancy who's been gardening and hanging laundry out to dry while we've been wading through Kraut blood for four years? That'll never work for you, Grad. You're too hard a man with too volatile of a temper. That girl-" he pointed at Anna, who was at the other end of the tent tending to patients. "That girl will kick your ass and put you in your place without even breaking a sweat. That's the kind of woman you need Coon-Ass. She's seen what we've seen and is still alive to tell the tale."

They went quiet for a long moment. Grady watched Anna at the far end of the tent, she was re-inserting an IV into a soldier's arm. He had pulled it out in a fit of rage after he learned he lost two of his fingers to infection. She was talking to the man very sternly, chastising him for being such a pussy about a few fingers when the boy laying next to him could lose his whole leg at any moment. Don was right, Anna definitely had the feriousity to keep him in line.

Don finally broke the silence, "how's your gut?"

Grady snorted, "hurts like a sumbitch. Gotta good bruise too."

"Well if you had more meat on you, you wouldn't bruise so easy!" Don barked back. "And folllow fucking orders so I don't have to whoop on you!"

Grady chuckled, "you know listenin' has never been one a my strong points, an' now I'm half deaf so I gotta even better 'scuse." He laughed again, "I did eat three times today though. Everybody brought me double portions too. Haven't ate that good in years."

Don laughed too and clapped Grady on the shoulder, "we'll get you back up to fightin' weight Grad." He paused for a moment before nodding towards Anna. "Do something nice for her tomorrow. Even if it's something as simple as helping her fold blankets. You've got good in you Coon-Ass, I've seen it. You just have to remember to use it once in a while."

Grady smiled sheepishly and nodded, vowing to himself to treat Anna with respect and kindness tomorrow. He only had another 24 hours with her in the aid tent before he was cleared and _Fury_ was off on another mission. He had to make that 24 hours count if he wanted any kind of chance.

"Get some good sleep tonight Grad. We'll all come check on you in the morning" Don said. "Oh, and take it easy on the kid. He's convinced you're going to tear his head off like a Rottweiler and use him as a chew toy. Poor boy is terrified of you." They both laughed at that as Don stood, gave Grady's shoulder a punch and turned to leave the medic tent.

Grady had no idea what time it was, but it was late. His light, Anna's desk light at the other end of the tent, and one other patient light were the only ones left on. Grady's eyesight had improved enough that he had managed to successfully win the battle with the buttons on his uniform shirt. He peeled it off and threw it over the rail at the end of his cot. It was cold, but he couldn't sleep in a collared button down shirt. The undershirt he wore was thin, but much more comfortable. His dog tags clanged together from around his neck as he pulled the covers and the extra blanket Anna had given him over his body and settled down to get some sleep. Grady gave Anna one more fleeting glance, she was sitting at her desk updating patient records. Her hair now completely out of the bun, it hung down past her shoulders and had a bit of a natural curl to it. She was still beautiful, he admitted to himself, even though she looked thoroughly exhausted and was covered in more blood than the last time he had seen her. He sighed loudly with defeat, and rolled over to turn out his bedside lamp. He was asleep before he even realized it.

Grady woke suddenly to the sound of blood curdling screams. For a moment he thought he was having a nightmare, it was pitch black and the rumble of deep thunder in the distance sounded a lot like cannon fire. The screams of agony filled the aid tent and bedside lights began to flicker on one by one as the other patients woke from the commotion. Grady turned on his own bedside light and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. The first thing he noticed was he eyesight. The big black blind spot in his right eye was now just a shadow, he could definitely see much better.

All of a sudden, the overhead lights for the back half of the tent turned on and Anna came rushing out of her private sleeping quarters in the corner of the tent wearing a long nightgown and combat boots, they were unlaced and slipping off her feet with every step she took. Grady propped himself up on his elbows and watched her as she rushed over to the young boy with a badly injured leg. She grabbed his IV line and injected morphine straight into his vein. The pain medication did not do much to subdue his screaming. Anna hurried over to a work tray to gather more supplies and medication for the boy.

"_Shut that brat up woman!"_ A soldier from across the tent shouted.

Anna's head whipped around, "you shut the fuck up Carter or I'll come over there and give you something to complain about!" She roared back at him.

The soldier, Carter, sunk back down onto his bed and threw a pillow over his head in an attempt to muffle the sound of the screaming boy. Grady continued to watch Anna soothe and comfort the boy while she examined his leg. It was then he realized that she was completely alone, no other nurses or doctors had come to the aid of her and the boy's screams of pain. She gave him another dose of morphine into his IV and that barely managed to quiet him enough so that he wouldn't wake up the whole camp. She was talking quietly to him, very rushed as she poured rusty red liquid all over his bare leg.

Grady's curiosity finally won over him, he threw back the covers and slipped his feet into his muddy boots on the ground next to his bed. He didn't even know if he could manage to stand on his own, let alone walk without assistance, but Anna was struggling to keep the boy still while she tended to him, she needed help and no one else seemed to be coming. The boy cried out in agony again and Anna did her best to hold his shoulders down. Grady made up his mind, Anna needed help with the boy and he needed to redeem himself. He held onto the frame of the cot tightly, bracing himself to stand. Slowly and with some difficulty, he managed to make it upright.

A wave of spinning and nausea threatened to collapse him, but he held onto the rail at the end of his bed with all the strength he had and rode it out. Once he was sure the dizziness had passed, he let go of the bed and tested his balance. He was a little unsteady on his feet, but Grady was determined to make it over to Anna and her patient. He looked over to her and saw that she was tying the boy's wrists down to the frame of his cot, that wasn't a good sign. Grady swallowed hard and forced himself forward slowly. He made it to the bed next to his and used the rail for support to keep moving. Anna and the boy were all the way at the other end of the tent, but Grady gained confidence and more balance with every step.

He finally made it over to Anna, only almost losing his footing once. She didn't notice him standing next to the bed as she fought to keep the boy still. "Can I do anythin' to help?" He questioned loudly over the screaming.

Anna turned towards his voice in surprise, "Grady!? What the hell are you doing out of bed!?" She sounded overwhelmed and aggravated. She tightened the straps around the boy's wrists to the frame of the cot. "Go back to bed, now Travis. I don't need you."

"I can help" he answered her eagerly. "Yer alone, you need 'nother set a hands."

Anna stopped fighting with the boy for a moment and sighed loudly, she turned to face Grady. "I have to amputate his leg, Grady. Can you help with that?"

Grady's face went white and he swallowed hard, "amputate? As in, cut it off? Right now?"

"Yes Grady, cut it off, right now. Or else this boy will die." She replied harshly. "He threw a clot in his leg, that's why he's in so much pain. The leg is dead and he will be too if I don't amputate right now...still wanna help?"

Grady stuttered for a moment, trying to digest the information Anna had just given him. He stared down at the boy who was screaming in writhing in pain. A young kid that Grady had never seen before, barely 20 years old, and he was going to lose his leg or die, right now. "Where-where are all the other doctors an' nurses? How come yer alone?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "your guess is as good as mine. Go back to bed Travis, you're no help to me" Anna barked at him. She began organizing supplies and instruments on a tray next to the bed.

Grady swallowed hard again and finally found his voice, "no. I can help. You need help. I can do it. Whadda you need?"

Anna stared at him curiously for a moment, "if you pass out or puke on me I'm going to leave you lying in the mud. This isn't a joke Grady, if you're really going to help you can't pussy out in the middle of me sawing his leg off."

A cold sweat started to form on Grady's forehead, but he still nodded hard, assuring her he was in. "Whadda you want me to do?"

Anna sighed with frustration before answering him, "give me your belt. I need a tourniquet for his leg." Grady fumbled with the buckle on his pants belt for a moment before pulling it off and tossing it to her. "Come around to his head and hold his shoulders down" Anna instructed, and he obeyed. She wrapped his belt around the boy's bare leg and cinched it as tightly as she could. Anna sighed again, "wait, come here and see if you can get this any tighter." She told him.

Grady came to her side and hesitated for a moment, "how tight do you want it?"

"As tight as you possibly fucking can! Now c'mon, we're running out of time!" Anna shouted at him. He pushed his sleeves up to his elbows and grabbed the belt, squeezing it around the boy's leg two belt holes tighter than Anna had managed. "Good, that's good." She praised him. "Now go back to his shoulders and hold him down. All I have is chloroform to put him out and it's not going to work well." She unscrewed a dark metal bottle and poured a clear liquid onto a rag. "Hold him down Grady, hard."

Grady braced himself and threw all of his weight onto the boy's shoulders to keep him still. Even as skinny as he was, Grady was still easily twice the size of the boy.

Anna came up to the boy's head and shushed him as best as she could. "Jack, sweetie. It's time, we can't wait any longer. I have to put you out." Her voice was so warm and comforting. The boy, Jack, nodded at her solemnly.

"There's no way to save it?" Jack whimpered at her, tears running down his cheeks like rain falling from the sky. "I need my leg."

Anna's eyes pooled with unshed tears, she ran her hand through Jack's sandy blonde hair, comforting him like a mother would comfort a child. "I'm so sorry hun, you've lost all blood flow to your leg. It's dead, and it's going to kill you if we don't take it off."

Jack choked back a sob and nodded hard, understanding the gravity of his situation. Grady watched their interaction in silence. He was amazed at Anna's calmness and her ability to console a boy who was going to have his leg amputated in a flimsy tent in the middle of a combat zone. He remembered the way she looked at him when he first regained consciousness after being shot and he was completely deaf. Even though he couldn't hear her words, her warm smiles and comforting touches made him feel so safe and reassured.

Anna reached for the chloroform covered rag and brought it up to Jack's face. "Just try to relax hun," she said quietly to him. "Focus on your breathing and it will be over soon." She covered his mouth and nose with the rag and Jack struggled, trying to jerk away for a moment before his body went still.

Anna sighed loudly as she poured more iodine onto Jack's leg, "last chance to bail Travis." She called to Grady. He shook his head again, determined to stay and be helpful in any way he could.

"I'm good. Not goin' anywhere." He swallowed hard again and attempted to mentally prepare himself for what they were about to do to this kid's leg.

Anna nodded at him, "Okay. But you can not freak out Grady, you hear me? I can not have you losing your shit while I'm in the middle of cutting." She dumped disinfectant solution over her hands and grabbed the biggest scalpel off the instruments tray. Grady nodded a little less enthusiastically, but still did not leave. "Alright, hold him down as hard as you can. I'm going to start cutting."

Grady pinned Jack's shoulders down with his body and watched in horror as Anna pressed the scalpel deep into the boy's leg. "Oh fuck" he mumbled as quietly as he could.

"Don't do that Grady" Anna growled at him. "Look away!" She slid the blade across Jack's thigh, cutting deep into the muscle. Jack's eyes popped open as Anna cut into his flesh. His scream of agony pierced through the tent and out into the camp. He fought against Grady hard, writhing and struggling to free himself with all he had. Jack's screams ripped through Grady's already sensitive eardrums. An unstoppable wave of dizziness and nausea threatened to bring him to his knees, but Grady swallowed it down and held onto Jack tightly.

Anna continued to cut even deeper into Jack's leg, severing blood vessels as she went. She stopped and quickly fastened clamps to the especially bad bleeders before continuing her incision around his leg. Jack cried and screamed, and begged and pleaded for Anna to stop and just let him die. She tossed the chloroform rag to Grady, "here, put that over his face! Try to get him to pass out again!" Grady did as he was instructed, and after a few moments Jack's body finally went limp again. "Good," she huffed out loudly, "good." She finished her cut all the way around the boy's leg, clamps were sticking out of the incision in a few places. "I need your hands over here Grady." Anna said flatly.

He looked up at her, eyes wide. "What?"

"I need to to hold these clamped off vessels while I stitch or he's going to bleed out."

"Okay." There was no turning back now, Grady was in this, no matter what. He yanked a clean sheet off an empty bed and twisted it around a few times before throwing it across Jack's chest. He grabbed the loose end of the sheet from under the bed and tied the boy down as securely as he could. He went to Anna's side and the contents of his stomach threatened to come back up at the sight of all the blood. He swallowed it back down hard. "What do you need me to do?"

Anna looked up at him, both her hands buried deep in the flesh of Jack's leg. "How's your eyesight doing?"

"Better" he answered quickly. "Much better."

Anna nodded, "dump disinfectant on your hands and get in here. You need to hold clamps while I stitch." Grady barely registered what her words even meant. He grabbed the jar off the instruments tray and poured it over his hands and forearms.

He sat down heavily on the stool next to Anna and gulped hard. She pulled a blood soaked hand out of Jack's leg and grabbed his own. She guided his fingers through the boy's flesh before Grady felt something cold and metallic. "You feel the clamp?" Grady nodded, not trusting himself to open his mouth to speak. "They're like a pair of scissors, just hold them closed while I stitch around it. I'm gonna let go now, okay?" Grady nodded again, he felt Anna release her grip on the clamp and he took over, holding it closed while she grabbed the needle and thread off the tray to stitch the bleeding vessels.

Anna and Grady repeated the process four more times. He held the clamps shut with shaky hands while she stitched. "I think that's all of them" she finally announced. "Go ahead and pull your hands out." Grady was covered in the boy's blood, up both of his arms to his elbows and the entire front of his undershirt was soaked with crimson liquid. Thankfully, Jack had stayed unconscious while they worked on the bleeding vessels. Grady threw the last clamp down on the tray and rested his elbows on his knees. His hands were shaking uncontrollably. Anna grabbed them with her own blood soaked hands and gave him a comforting squeeze. "Hey, Grady, you did great. I'm really proud of you."

Grady forced out a weak smile, "that was so fucked up."

Anna chuckled quietly at him, "hunny, we ain't even halfway done." She grabbed the bone saw off the instruments tray and watched Grady's face go white as a sheet. "Go back up to his shoulders and hold him down again. He's not going to stay unconscious for this part."

**Seriously, please...if you like it let me know... :)**


	7. Chapter 7: Sparks Will Fly

**Last one of just random useless Grady/Anna + the rest of the crew fluff before we get back to the movie's storyline. Reviews make me happy! **

Grady sat on a stack of crates just outside the medic tent, watching the sun rise slowly in the sky. He was sucking down his third cigarette, deeply inhaling the nicotine smoke into his lungs, hoping it would do something to help stop the uncontrollable shaking his hands were doing. Grady was beyond the point of exhausted, but so high on adrenaline he felt like his head was going to explode. What he and Anna had just achieved was both miraculous and appalling all at once. They had amputated a boy's leg, cut it clean off his body, and saved his life. Anna had confirmed that Jack's vitals were stable before Grady used the last of his willpower to stumble out of the tent, desperately searching for fresh air.

He blew out a long puff of smoke and looked down at his hands. They were stained with Jack's blood. He had scrubbed them clean with disinfectant solution three times, but Grady's hands and forearms were still a faded shade of red, and he could not stop shaking. His undershirt was soaked with Jack's blood. In his rush to get out of the tent he had forgotten to pull it off and grab a clean one out of the stolen pack under his cot. He felt the dampness against his chest and a crippling wave of nausea overtook his body. Grady fell to his knees, dry heaving into the mud. Nothing but saliva and bile came up, it burned his throat and made his head throb again.

Anna came rushing out of the tent, now dressed in her nurse's uniform, her chocolate brown hair tied up in a messy braid. She knelt down next to Grady and rubbed his back as he heaved again. "Shhh it's okay hun, it's okay. Just get it out." She soothed him. Grady coughed hard, choking on the snot in his throat and spit into the mud.

"Oh fuck" he mumbled quietly, his eyes watering from dry heaving so hard. "Fuck me...I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize" she comforted him. She pulled on his arm and helped him to his feet, sitting him back down onto the crates and she sat down next to him. "Grady" she forced his eyes to meet hers, they were still wet with tears. "Don't apologize, you did a great thing. You helped me saved Jack's life."

He huffed out a loud sigh and wiped the wetness off his cheeks. "That was the most fucked up thing I ever done." He chuckled softly, hacked more snot up from his throat and spit into the mud again. "I mean, I killed men wit' my bare hands, stabbed Krauts in the neck, stuck em' like pigs goin' to slaughter. This was way more fucked up then that."

"This is medicine, Grady" Anna sighed. "This is my front, my battle. I do it everyday." She pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of her pocket, sticking one in her mouth before offering Grady the pack.

He took one with a mumbled "thank you" and leaned towards Anna for her to light it. She flipped the small silver lighter open and held the flame to Grady's cigarette first, and then lit her own. He snorted at her in amazement, "how can you do this every goddamn day? It's horrifyin'. We removed a kid's leg from his body. A perfectly good leg, an' we jus' chopped it off."

Anna shook her head, "No hun, it wasn't a perfectly good leg. He threw a clot, lost blood flow. His leg had died and it was killing him slowly."

He watched her curiously as she smoked her cigarette. "How didja know?"

Anna's eyebrows furrowed at him. "Know what?"

"That his leg was dead an' it needed to come off." Grady's voice was shaky, he still couldn't believe he helped cut off a person's leg.

"Medical school" she replied flatly. She flicked the ashes off the end of her cigarette and looked at Grady pointedly. "I may be just a nurse here, but I'm a surgeon back home."

Grady cocked a confused eyebrow at her, "an' why can't you be a surgeon here?"

Anna blew out a long breath of smoke, "because I'm a veterinary surgeon. I treat animals, not people, and apparently that's not good enough to be considered a real doctor for the United States Army."

Grady snorted, "well that was real fuckin' surgery. Don't matter what you are, animals an' people all got the same parts." Anna nodded silently in agreement.

"I like animals" he confessed quietly. "Easier to get along wit' than people."

She huffed a soft laugh at him, "I completely agree."

They fell into a comfortable silence, sitting next to each other in the chilly morning breeze, watching the sun paint shades of pink and yellow into the sky. Their knees bumped together softly, Anna puffed on her cigarette slowly, savoring the nicotine with every breath. Grady had already sucked his down to the butt, he flicked it into the mud and sighed loudly again, looking down at his shaking, blood stained hands.

"This ever gonna fuckin' stop?" Grady asked her, voice clearly annoyed. Anna tossed the last of her cigarette away and grabbed his hands, squeezing them hard.

"You're just wound up Grady. It will pass. We'll get you some breakfast when the kitchen opens and I'll give you a sedative later to help you sleep." She never let go of his hands, they still shook uncontrollably, even in her grip. She ran her fingers over his calloused knuckles, a small gesture of comfort that he greatly appreciated.

Grady swallowed hard and looked deep into her bright blue eyes. They were tired and weary, but still had that familiar warmth in them. The warmth of a healer, he finally understood. "Anna, I'm really sorry, for bein' such a asshole to you yesterday. I could never do what you do." He chuckled to himself, "fuck, compared to you, my job is easy as shit. Alls I do is sit in a tank and load the damn shells."

"Hey" she nudged his shoulder with her own. "Like I said before, we all have our parts to play in this war. Nobody's job is more important than the next person." She paused for a moment before adding, "and yes you were an asshole, but I forgive you. Something tells me you were deflecting emotions by using aggression as a coping mechanism."

He gawked at her stupidly, and she couldn't help but smirk at his dumbfounded expression. "That's alota big words for my stupid ass to understand."

"I took a few psych classes in college." She nudged him again affectionately.

He turned his body to face her more and smiled, "oh yeah? Animal doctor and a shrink huh? Where'd you go to school?"

She cocked a curious eyebrow at him. Was he making small talk with her? She grinned at him sweetly. "Charlottesville, University of Virginia."

"That where you from?"

Anna shook her head at him and couldn't help but smile wider, "South Carolina. Charleston."

Grady straightened up and slapped his hands on his knees, "no shit! We're practically neighbors!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Macon Georgia, born an' raised." He said proudly.

Anna chuckled at his enthusiasm, "crazy how that is huh? Out of the whole damn country, we grew up barely 200 miles apart, and then we meet halfway across the world."

Grady smiled genuinely at her, and the flutter in his heart made a strong reappearance. He could do this whole not being an asshole thing, at least to her. It was nice to have a conversation with someone who didn't insult him in every other sentence or have a screaming match with him.

"You know what else is crazy?" Anna gestured to his hands with a warm smile, "I got your hands to stop shaking."

He looked down at his steady hands in amazement. "Holy fuck, you did. How didja do that?"

"Redirected your anxiety onto something more familiar to you and easier to talk about."

He stared at her in amazement again and Anna couldn't help but laugh loudly at him. "Oh Coon-Ass, I'll give you a run for your money."

Anna offered him a second cigarette, which he accepted with a smirk and another mumbled "thank you". She lit her own and then leaned into his shoulder to light his. The silence between them was comfortable, peaceful even. They watched the sky brighten across the trees in the distance. "Shame this country is sucha fuckin' shit hole. It's pretty in the mornin'."

She snorted, "It's a sunrise Grady. It's pretty everywhere."

He swallowed hard. "Well...maybe the company is prettier here."

Anna locked eyes with him in surprise. "Grady Travis, did you just say something sweet!?"

He rolled his eyes at her and smirked coyly. "Don't you fuckin' tell no one." He leaned against her shoulder heavily and dared to rest a hand on her knee, thankfully she didn't jerk away. "Sunrise is still pretty though." Anna couldn't help but smile at him, big scary redneck Grady admired sunrises. She leaned back into him, enjoying the warmth of his body close to hers.

The sun crept higher into the sky and soldiers around the camp began to emerge from various sleeping places. Several made their way over to the kitchen tent, while others started small fires next to their tanks and trucks. Boyd wandered out of the kitchen tent, precariously balancing three cups of coffee in his hands, and headed towards the aid tent. Boyd must've not noticed Grady and Anna sitting outside in front of the tent because he jumped a little at the sound of Anna's voice, he had been too focused on not spilling coffee all over himself.

"Morning Boyd" Anna called to him. He looked up from concentrating on the coffee and gave Anna a wide smile, but his face quickly turned to horror as his eyes fell on Grady.

"Holy Mary mother of Christ Almighty...Grady! What the fuck happened to you!?" Boyd tried to keep his voice low, but it still came out a panicked shriek. He almost dropped the cups of coffee, but Anna jumped up and managed to grab two of the cups from him just in time. "Did someone try to fucking murder you in your sleep!?" He pointed an accusing finger at Grady's chest.

Grady looked down at his blood soaked shirt and then back up to Boyd, "oh, I amputated a leg las' night." Grady smiled at him and all the color drained from Bible's face.

"You-you amputated a leg. On purpose?" Boyd swallowed down a wave of nausea.

Grady snorted a laugh at him, "well yeah on purpose, the kid was gonna die if we didn't. I mean Anna did all the real work, I jus' held the boy down."

"Hey, you did more than just hold him down." Anna corrected Grady, handing him a cup of coffee. "You are responsible for saving that boy's life too."

"So you, and the man with an IQ of a swamp turtle and a massive gunshot wound to his head, cut off a kid's leg in the middle of the night?" Boyd couldn't help but sounded appalled.

Anna gave him a pointed look, "it was necessary. I didn't want to amputate his leg, but the kid threw a clot, I had no choice."

"Just you and him?" Boyd sounded critical.

Grady must have caught on to his tone, "you do know she's a doctor?" He growled at Boyd, jabbing a thumb in Anna's direction.

"A veterinarian" Anna corrected him.

"A vet-veterin-veterinarian" Grady stumbled over the word.

Bible nodded at them slowly. "Okay. Well as much as I'd love to hear all about you and Doctor Dolittle cutting off a kid's leg, we should get you cleaned up before people start asking if you went on a stabbing spree in the middle of the night. Or Top sees you and rings your neck."

Anna smirked at Grady, "you do kinda look like a serial killer." Grady chuckled and gave her an affectionate nudge.

Gordo and Norman appeared behind Boyd a moment later, each holding two plates of food. "Morning guys" Gordo said, and his smile turned to utter shock in the blink of an eye. "What in the holy fuck happened to you Coon-Ass!?" His shrieking tone came out very similar to Boyd's. Norman went white as a sheet, but didn't dare speak.

Grady glanced quickly at Norman, who looked like he was about to shit himself in fear, so he used the opportunity to take advantage of being covered in blood and looking like a psychopath. "Well ya see," Grady swallowed and lowered his voice to a whisper, adding a more sinister effect to terrorize Norman. Boyd took a seat on a crate across from Grady and Anna, hands in his pockets and grinning wildly. He loved it when Grady went full blown redneck crazy and scared the shit out of people. "The guy sleepin' next to me was snorin' like a fuckin' diesel engine. So I stabbed 'im to death wit' a spoon in the middle a the night."

Norman's eyes widened into saucers and he took a few hesitant steps backwards. Anna buried her face in her arms to hide her uncontrollable giggling. Gordo and Boyd smirked, watching as Norman fought the urge to run. "You-you stabbed a guy with a spoon?" He swallowed hard.

"Right in the fuckin' neck" Grady growled like an animal, mimicking a stabbing motion in the air, and Anna snorted even louder.

She finally nudged him in the side with an elbow, "quit terrifying the poor boy Grady." Anna turned towards Norman and smiled at him honestly. He still looked like a petrified rabbit about to be torn apart by a pack of wolves. "I had an emergency amputation in the middle of the night, and Grady helped me with the surgery."

Boyd and Gordo burst out laughing at the sight of Norman frozen in fear and confusion. Grady joined in, chuckling stupidly at Norman's gullibility. Anna couldn't muffle her fit of laughter any longer, she too joined the boys in laughing at Norman's expense. She didn't want to tease him, but his face was so full of innocence and fear, and he was still staring at Grady with horrified apprehension.

"Hey kid, one a those plates mine? I'm fuckin' starvin'." Grady barked at Norman. Norman swallowed hard and slowly inched forward. He stretched his arm out towards the blood covered redneck, handing him a double portion plate of breakfast. Grady smiled at him wickedly, "thanks _Normie_." He grabbed the plate from him and greedily dug into the food. "Don't even fuckin' think 'bout saying Grace Boyd." He growled through a mouthful of food. "It's too fuckin' early in the mornin'."

Bible held up his hands in surrender. "I already ate Coon-Ass. You continue to inhale your food like a rabid animal."

Gordo sat on a flimsy folding chair and handed his extra plate to Anna, "mi' lady." He said in the corniest British accent.

"Well thank you good sir." Anna replied with a giggle, faking a British accent as well. She liked Gordo, he had a playful sense of humor.

"Take a seat kid, Coon-Ass don't bite." Boyd called to Norman. "Usually" he added under his breath while he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his coat pocket. They all chuckled at Boyd's remark as Norman pulled up a crate and sat mostly behind Bible, using him as a barrier from the giant psychopathic hillbilly.

The nurse sat next to Grady so comfortably, her body language not defensive at all. Norman studied them curiously, the little interaction he had had with Grady was enough for him to know to stay as far away from the man as possible. Don may have been strict and hard on him, but Grady was hostile and unpredictable, with a very short fuse. It seemed though, the nurse was not intimidated by him at all. She sat cross legged, tucked closely next to him, almost leaning on his shoulder, and he didn't seem to mind one bit. His own body language relaxed and comfortable next to her. Anna picked daintily at her food, watching Grady with a little bit of disgust as he shoveled breakfast down his throat without bothering to breathe.

"Coon-Ass" Boyd mumbled through his cigarette, "you're grossing the lady out. Chew your damn food."

Grady all but licked his plate clean before looking up at Anna sheepishly. He swallowed hard, "sorry."

She grinned sweetly at him, "it's okay. I'm just glad to see that cutting off a leg didn't dampen your appetite. Here," she handed him her plate of breakfast. "Go ahead and finish mine hun."

Grady took the plate from her hesitantly, "you sure?"

Anna sighed loudly, "yeah, at least you got to look away while I cut through the kid's femur. I'm not hungry."

Gordo made a noise in between surprise and disgust. His fork hit his plate with a loud clatter. "Mami! Demasiada informaćion!"

"Sorry Gordo!" Anna scrunched up her shoulders innocently. Gordo shook his head silently, breathing deep in an attempt to avoid being sick.

Grady snorted through a mouthful of food. "Least you didn't hafta see it."

"You didn't see it either, you big dork!" Anna gave him a playful little shove.

"I was there! I heard it!"

"So a veterinarian huh?" Boyd questioned, his tone a little judgemental. "Do many leg amputations workin' on animals?"

Anna arched an eyebrow and gave Bible a pointed look, "yeah actually. Dogs that get hit by cars mostly. I did amputate a leg on a goat that had bone cancer once."

Boyd huffed out an amused laugh, "I'm sure a goat and a human are practically the same thing."

"The fuck is your problem Boyd?" Grady barked at his best friend.

Boyd shrugged, "I'm just wondering why you didn't wait for a real doctor. Could've killed that boy, the two a you performing surgery like that in the middle of the night."

"She is a real doctor!" Grady snarled.

Anna's spine stiffened and she glared at Bible, "You want to go in there and check to make sure I amputated correctly?" She jabbed a thumb towards the aid tent. "Or I could take off Grady's bandage and you can restitch his head. If you're not satisfied with that job either."

Grady's attention popped up from his plate in surprise, "wait, my fuckin' heads gotta get restitched!?"

Anna grabbed his arm quickly to comfort him. "No, no Grady. You're fine. I just think Boyd is a little unappreciative of a veterinarian working on people during _war_."

"You don't like animals Boyd?" Grady questioned him curiously. "All God's creatures an' everythin'?"

Bible shook his head, "I never said that."

"Just questioning my abilities then, huh?" Anna snipped at him. "Well Grady's up and walking and talking. He may look a little like a stray dog that got run over, but I put his head back together just fine. I'm sorry a world class surgeon wasn't available in the middle of fucking war torn Germany."

"What in the fuck is going on here?" Don's demanding voice made them all jump in surprise. He was standing just behind Boyd and Norman, holding his own steaming cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal.

Gordo cleared his throat loudly, "nothin' Top. Just having a little polite conversation about animals, dogs and goats mostly."

Don glanced across his crew with suspicion. His eyes finally fell on Grady and he sighed loudly, "do I even wanna fuckin' ask?"

Everyone remained silent with their heads down, too nervous to respond to their Sergeant's question.

"Why the fuck is Coon-Ass covered in blood!?" Don barked harshly. They all jumped at his tone, but Anna couldn't help but notice that Grady actually flinched a little bit from next to her. Did Don really beat on him that much? Or was it more a reflex from his childhood.

Anna stood abruptly, "that's my fault, Sergeant Collier. I had an emergency amputation in the middle of the night, and Grady was the closest guy with an extra set of hands." She lied.

Don looked her over with an amused smirk on his face, "so the half blind, half deaf retard with a crater his head was your best choice for a surgical assistant?"

"I ain't blind no more!" Grady piped up. "Eyesights almost completely backta normal."

"Uh-huh" Don muttered suspiciously, eyeing the pair with a cocky grin. "You know, Boyd's a trained field medic."

"Well...if I would have known where Bible was at three in the morning, he certainly would've been a better choice for surgical assistance." Anna retorted, returning to her seat next to Grady.

Boyd huffed out a laugh. "Yeah if our patient's name was Fido maybe."

Don gave Bible a confused glance before turning Anna, "three in the morning? So did you get any sleep Coon-Ass? Or did you just decide to ignore my direct orders, _again?_"

Anna could feel Grady recoiling next to her, she jumped up again and clapped her hands loudly. "OH-kay! I think it's time we get H.H. Holmes here cleaned up and back to bed! I'll give him a sedative and he'll be down for a solid 18 hours." She said to Don.

He smirked with amusement at Anna's reference. "He does kinda look like a serial killer."

Don couldn't help but grin widely at the pair. It was obviously very apparent that Grady had taken his advice and gotten back on her good side. Although assisting with a leg amputation was a bit more extreme than his suggestion of folding blankets, it was still nice to see that Grady had made an effort. He knew exactly how Coon-Ass felt. Anna was sweet and beautiful, and she treated Grady with a kindness he had probably never experienced before.

"Alright you" Anna gave Grady's shoulder a squeeze, "can you stand by yourself?"

Grady sighed loudly and spit into the mud. "Yeah, I think I got it." He braced himself on the crate and managed to make it upright without having a crippling dizzy spell.

"You gonna pass out?" She held her arms out towards him with concern.

Grady shook his head, smiling. "No, I think I'm finally okay!"

Boyd stood from his spot and slapped Norman on the shoulder. "Good, now go get some sleep while you can. We've got more shit to fix on the tank while you lay around on your ass." He stalked off in a huff, Norman and Gordo following close behind him.

"The fuck is his problem?" Grady questioned Don. "He been pissy all mornin'."

Don sighed, "he's in a mood. Lotta mechanical shit wrong with the tank and he's frustrated, just needs your help."

Grady went quiet for a moment, "well I feel lot better, I can come help-"

Don shook his head, cutting him off. "Go on Coon-Ass, you need sleep. We're wheels up at 0500." He nodded towards the tent, and Anna grabbed Grady's hand to gently pull him back inside.

"Come on Grady, let's get you cleaned up and then I'll drug you."

Don gave him an encouraging wink and nod before turning to head back towards _Fury_.

Grady plopped down heavily on his cot, exhausted to the bone. "Holy fuck I could sleep for a week." He kicked off his muddy boots and looked down at the front of his shirt, realizing he was still soaked in Jack's blood. "Oh fuck. Ohh fuck…" He gulped a wave of nausea down hard.

"No no no! Don't you dare puke again! You just ate three people's worth of food, I'm not cleaning that mess up!" Anna chastised him. "C'mon, strip. I'll get you a clean shirt." She turned away and dug through a storage cabinet for a moment before returning to his beside with a clean green thermal shirt and a wet rag.

Grady snorted in amusement at her, "strip huh? Usually I gotta buy a girl dinner or flowers 'fore clothes start comin' off."

Anna rolled her eyes, "like you've ever bought a girl dinner or flowers, Coon-Ass. C'mon." She gestured for him to pull off the blood covered undershirt and he complied. She paused unexpectedly and gave him a not so subtle long look before sitting down next to him on the bed. He wasn't as sickly skinny as she thought. Sure, his ribs were a little too visible, but he was surprisingly still somewhat toned. Lean muscle apparent in his chest and shoulders and down his arms.

She swallowed hard, trying not to focus on the half naked man sitting on the bed with her. She brought the wet rag up to his chest and began wiping away the blood that had seeped through his shirt. Grady could tell immediately something was up with her. "What's wrong?" He questioned slyly, trying hard to suppress a grin.

Anna cleared her throat and shook her head fervently, "nothing. Nothing's wrong." She attempted to redirect her attention to something other than Grady's bare chest. "How are you feeling? Do I need to do another vitals check on you?"

This time Grady did grin at her, he knew he was flustering her. "Nah I think I'm good." He grabbed her hand and pressed it into his chest, holding it still. "How's my heart feel?"

She gulped again and met his dark brown eyes, "your-your heart feels good." She stuttered out. She pulled her hand out from under his and quickly wiped the last of the blood off his chest. "Here, clean undershirt." She tossed him the green thermal. He didn't move to put in on, instead he watched her busy herself with ringing out the bloody rag and doing everything she could to avoid his curious eyes.

"Anna" he said to her quietly. She stopped fidgeting and looked back up to him with a piercing blue gaze. "Why're you so kind to me?"

She smiled tenderly at him, eyebrows furrowing. "You got shot in the head Grady, why wouldn't I be kind to you?"

He swallowed and nodded softly, "is that it then? That the only reason?"

She faltered for a moment, searching for the right words. Nothing came to her, instead she placed her hand back on his chest, right over his heart, caressing his skin softly. He watched her face intently, she was fighting to find an answer, but all words were lost.

"Anna" he said again, and when her eyes locked with his he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, delicately at first, as if testing to see if he had crossed a boundary. She didn't pull away, instead she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his body in even closer to her.

She kissed him back, hard, yearning even. She squeezed at his neck and shoulders, desperate for any physical contact. He eagerly returned her affection, one arm wrapped tightly around her petite waist, the other against her back, pulling her body into his chest. They lost themselves in each other for a moment, so focused on the hunger of their kiss and the heat of their bodies so close together that neither of them heard the shouting and cat-call whistles from the other patients in the tent. Their lips finally parted, but only out of necessity for air. Anna's brilliant blue eyes met Grady's deep chocolate brown ones and they couldn't help but smile shyly at each other.

Still practically sitting in his lap and laying against his chest, Anna swallowed hard and chuckled softly. "I guess there are more reasons." She said to him softly before pushing herself off of his chest, purposefully putting some distance in between their bodies. The aid tent was thundering with shouts and whistling.

"_Hey! What do I gotta do to get that kind of treatment!?"_

"_Sweetheart! I've gotta headache too! Come over here!"_

"_Hey darlin' I need my vitals checked next!" _

Anna blushed a deep rose red and Grady couldn't help but chuckle at her. "OKAY SHOW'S OVER!" She barked forcefully at the rowdy patients in the tent. Several continued to whistle and shout at her though. "Please, for the love of God put your shirt on Grady." She finally dropped her hand from his bare chest, he didn't know if she had been holding him back, or keeping herself away, but the loss of her warm touch made his smile fall a little.

Anna jumped up from his bed abruptly, "I'm gonna go get your sedative." She said quickly before rushing away. "WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP NOW!?" She roared at the last of the patients still whistling and calling for her. Grady snorted out a laugh and pulled the thermal undershirt over his head, wincing when the fabric rubbed against his head.

Anna returned to Grady's bedside a moment later, holding a syringe and a bottle of liquid medication. "What's that?" He yelped, nervousness replaced the passionate moment quickly.

"This is your sedative." She answered him pointedly, trying hard to sound professional instead of hot and flustered.

Grady's eyes widened as she drew up a yellowish liquid into the syringe. "Why can't I jus' take pills?" He swallowed hard, "I don't needa shot."

Anna shook her head, "you need sleep hun. Pills won't work as well as a shot."

Grady stayed quiet, watching with apprehension as she measured out the medication into the syringe. "Shot just seems a little extreme…It'sa big needle." He mumbled.

She looked at him with a cocked eyebrow, "it's smaller than your IV needle was."

"Yeah, but I wasn't awake for the IV!"

Anna sighed and sat back down on the bed, noticeably closer to him than she was the first time. "Grady, sweetie. I'll be quick, you'll barely feel it. One little poke and you'll be dead to the world for 18 hours."

He nodded softly, still very visibly tense. Anna set the syringe and bottle down on his bedside table and grabbed his hands. "C'mon, squeeze."

He met her eyes confused, "this again? I jus' cut off a leg wit' you, I think my reflexes are good."

She smiled warmly at him, "C'mon hun, just humor me."

Grady sighed and squeezed her fingers obediently. She checked his pupils with her penlight, and made him follow her finger in front of his face. "How's your eyesight?"

"Almos' totally normal. Jus' a little bit of a shadowy spot now."

She nodded in approval and then snapped her fingers next to his right ear. "Anything?"

Grady shook his head, "nope. Still completely dead on that side."

"It will come back." Without explaining what she was doing, Anna grabbed his left arm and pulled up his shirt sleeve. She wiped the inside of his elbow down with a disinfectant soaked gauze pad and then reached for the syringe on the bedside table. Grady immediately tensed again

"Hey hey, c'mon now" she comforted him. "I promise I'll be gentle, ya big baby." She leaned in and pecked a quick kiss on his cheek, and his eyes lit back up like firecrackers. Anna stood from his bed and pulled the covers down. "Lay down and get comfy. This is going right into your vein, you'll be out in less than ten seconds."

Grady did as he was told, tucking his long legs underneath the blankets and laying back down into the pillows. Once he was comfortable and ready for his impending coma, Anna reached for his left arm again and pressed hard on the inside of his elbow, forcing the vein to the surface of his skin. "Alright hun, you ready? On a count of three. One-" she didn't count any further as she effortlessly slide the needle into his vein, injecting the sedative into his bloodstream. Grady didn't even have time to react. Anna held his hand tightly and smiled warmly at him as his vision went fuzzy and then completely black.

Anna watched him fondly as the sedative took affect and he almost immediately lost consciousness. His hand went limp in hers and his head sunk down into the pillows. He'd be down for the whole day, he needed it badly. She did too, but she had other patient's and responsibilities to take care of. Rest for her was nowhere in sight. She sighed loudly as she took in the man that she had just shared a very passionate kiss with.

Anna laughed quietly to herself, reliving the heated moment as she brushed her fingers over his forehead, stroking the little bit of hair he had left, it must have been cut fairly recently. The bandage across his stitches was still clean and intact, she'd clean his wound and change it later, while he was still out. She smiled sheepishly as she played with Grady's hair. "Coon-Ass." She said to herself, "what the hell did I get myself into." She leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead before leaving him to sleep.

**OHH I suck at writing intimacy, so sorry...This was absolutely completely useless full of pointless dialogue and fluff filler chapter because I love Grady and he needed a more human side to him and more interaction with Anna...This was way longer than I intended it to be, but whatever. The boys are back to work next chapter, and Anna will be God knows where. PLEASE DEAR LORD GIVE ME FEEDBACK….**


	8. Chapter 8: In Trouble

**This took a little longer than expected. I had this chapter all planned out in my head, and then when I sat down to write it my brain was like NOPE completely different direction. It's stupid long, and another filler chapter, but whatever. Sorry if you don't like it. Light Grady/Anna smut at the end. I already have the next chapter halfway done, so it won't be as long of a wait. Lemme know what you think... **

The sun was beginning to set by the time Grady finally managed to force his eyes open. Truthfully, he wasn't even sure it was the same day, or if the sun was actually setting, it could have been rising for all he knew. He shook his head hard, trying to rid the thick fog from his mind and immediately regretted it, groaning loudly and swallowing down a crippling wave of nausea. He let his forehead fall heavily back down into the pillows, his cheek landing on a large wet spot. It was a puddle of slobber, Grady had been so drugged that he was drooling in his sleep. Whatever injection Anna had given him knocked him out so hard he felt like he had been in a coma for a month.

"Fuck me" he mumbled, chuckling to himself. His voice hoarse and groggy. He turned his head slowly, blinking his eyes into focus and found a blissfully full glass of water waiting for him on his bedside table, along with the bottle of aspirin. _Thank you Anna_, he thought to himself as he slowly managed to roll over and prop himself up on his elbows. Grady surveyed the aid tent curiously, it was quiet and very still. Most of the other patients were either reading or napping, and he noticed that several of the once occupied beds were now empty, including Jack's. He hoped the boy finally got shipped home, but still worried about the alternative possibility.

His eyes quickly searched the tent for Anna, she was nowhere to be found. He grabbed the bottle of aspirin off the bedside table and wrenched it open, popped four pills into his mouth and downed the entire glass of water in two gulps. The water helped clear his mind tremendously, and his stomach growled loudly in protest. He was starving, having slept straight through lunch. Hopefully the kitchen still had some warm food left. But more importantly, Grady wanted to find Anna. He had several unanswered questions about what had transpired between them before he was so heavily sedated against his will.

His mind reeled around that kiss. If he was being honest, Grady was a little overwhelmed by it. He wasn't used to women being so forward with him, he was usually the aggressive one, almost to the point of being forceful sometimes. But when Anna had grabbed him and reciperated his advances so assertively, it definitely caught him off guard. The flutter in his heart and the flip flop in his stomach was uncharted territory for him, feelings he had never experienced before. He wasn't exactly a domesticated type of guy, even before he had left for war he never had a girl he was especially sweet on or wanted to settle down with. He didn't have the patience for flowers and other courting rituals, something almost all women seemed to count as a requirement for a relationship. And after a childhood of watching his father abuse his mother and sisters, and then being on the receiving end of that abuse as well, he wasn't so sure he even wanted a family. So the women he took to bed were always a use them once and walk away situation.

Anna was not that type of woman though, she would never tolerate that kind of behavior from him, and he knew it, which was why that kiss was so goddamn confusing. He couldn't exactly take her to a nice dinner and bring her flowers while in the thick of Nazi Germany, so what did she want? He sat propped up in bed for a few minutes, waiting anxiously for her to make an appearance. The other two nurses scurried around the tent, busying themselves with cleaning up after patients, but still no Anna.

Grady's thoughts wandered to Boyd then, and his annoyance and frustration from earlier that morning. _Fury_ had serious issues that needed to be addressed, and Grady was their mechanic. Maybe Anna's absence from the tent was just the excuse he needed, with her not around to monitor his every move he could slip away completely undetected. Quickly, he bent over and stuck his head under his cot. The stolen pack was still there, and so were his cover-alls, rolled up in a ball and covered in mud, oil, and grease. Grady looked up and scanned the tent one more time, making sure the coast was clear of Anna's scrutinizing watch before he grabbed his cover-alls, slipped his feet into his muddy boots and crept out of the tent with as much stealth as he could manage.

He let out a long sigh of relief once he was outside of the aid tent, taking in as much fresh air as he could. Still nervous that Anna could catch him out of bed at any moment, Grady slunk behind a truck and pulled his cover-alls on over his clean uniform pants and the undershirt he had slept in. The cover-alls were heavy and dirty, but familiar feeling all the same. Gone was clean and somewhat respectable Private Grady Travis. He was back to being Coon-Ass, the filthy hick tank mechanic and gun loader. He sat down heavily on a crate and quickly laced his boots. The vision is his right eye was still foggy and his depth perception was off by a mile, but he had to ignore it and get back to work, his crew members were counting on him. Boyd could tinker with the radiator if it was necessary, and Gordo knew a little about the suspension and transmission, as long as it was an easy fix, but anything past that was beyond their skill level and up to Grady.

He sighed loudly in defeat, patting down his pockets for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He had nothing on him, "sumbitch" he muttered to himself, irritation already growing. Grady finally heaved his exhausted body up from the crates and headed towards _Fury_.

"The fuck wrong wit' this bitch now?" He slapped his hand hard on the side of the tank and the four other men scattered around _Fury_ turned to face him.

"Oh thank you Christ Almighty!" Boyd kissed his hands and raised them towards the sky. He grabbed Grady and quickly pulled him into a warm embrace before piling on the laundry list of problems. "The transmission is stuck in third gear, front bogie is cracked, hydraulic fluid is leaking from somewhere we can't find, and one of the generator fans is dead."

Grady snorted, "That all huh?" He slapped Bible's chest with an open palm, his familiar silent demand for a cigarette. Boyd knew exactly what he wanted. He and Grady had worked together for so long it sometimes seemed like they could read each other's thoughts. Bible reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of smokes and a lighter and handed them over.

Don leaned out of the turret hatch, smiling down at Grady. "Well well, look who came crawling home. Welcome back Coon-Ass, howya feeling?"

"Fuckin' starvin'" Grady growled as he stuffed a cigarette between his lips and lit it. Don disappeared down into the tank for a moment and reemerged with a ration box. He tossed it down to Grady, who almost fumbled the catch. "Still can't fuckin' see Top" he mumbled under his breath. He ripped into the box with his teeth like a rabid animal and went straight for the cookies. Norman was sitting on top of the tank with Don, watching the interaction between Grady and the rest of his new crew quietly, absorbing as much information as he could. So far, he concluded that keeping Grady in a somewhat tolerable mood required smokes and food at all times. He filed that information away in his brain to be useful in the future.

Gordo was rifling through a tool box when he suddenly rushed up to Grady and handed him a wrench and screwdriver before pulling him into a tight hug. "Te extrañé mucho, hombre." He whispered into Grady's shoulder. Gordo reeked of wine more than usual, it seemed like he had been enjoying their impromptu vacation at base a little too much, which was probably why an easy fix like the stuck transmission was left for Grady.

He chuckled back to his very intoxicated friend, "I got no idea the fuck you jus' said, but I'm glad to see you too bud." He clapped Gordo on the shoulder, "now let's get this fuckin' piece a shit fixed." He sat down in the mud and shuffled himself under the tank. "I hate this goddamn tank so fuckin' much" Grady growled under his breath, and Bible and Gordo laughed at his sarcastic enthusiasm.

He was losing light fast, but Grady still managed to find the hydraulic leak. It was coming from the transmission clutch. Norman was sitting inside the tank next to the open bottom hatch. He was handing Grady tools through the hole and listening quietly to the giant redneck curse and bitch at the transmission. "Fuckin' master cylinder needs ta be completely fuckin' replaced."

"Can-can you do that tonight?" He questioned Grady hesitantly. Norman was still pretty uneasy about engaging the man in any conversation, but he figured he'd have to try eventually. He had cookies from his own ration box in his pocket, ready to placate Grady if his mood turned volatile.

"Nah, I can take the busted one out t'night. I'll replace it in the mornin', if I can even fuckin' find a new cylinder." Grady grumbled and growled, fumbling with parts that Norman couldn't see. He tapped a screwdriver in his hand absentmindedly, waiting on demands for tools from their mechanic, who was quickly losing his patience. "Mother fuckin' piece of fuckin' shit." Grady snarled and punched the transmission with his fist.

"Evening gentleman." A soft, feminine voice spoke loudly from outside the tank.

The familiar voice made Grady freeze, he gulped hard and his eyes darted to Norman. "Oh shit" he muttered quietly. "I'm in fuckin' trouble."

"Well good evening Anna" Don called from the top of the tank, "how can we help you tonight?"

"Are you supposed to be out of bed?" Norman whispered quickly, and Grady shook his head, eyes wide with alarm.

"I seem to have lost a patient, boys. Wondering if you've seen him?" Her voice was sharp and a little annoyed. "He's tall, maybe six-two, big shoulders, kinda scrawny, looks like Frankenstein's monster right now, answers to Coon-Ass."

Grady and Norman listened intently from inside the tank for one of the others to rat him out, but no one answered Anna. All of a sudden the toe of a boot kicked his leg hard, he realized he was only half under the tank. "Sumbitch." He muttered under his breath, so much for hiding from Anna.

Anna kicked his leg again, "Come out here, now."

Norman dared to give Grady a hard glare and a lesson on manners. "Hey, Grady, smile and don't be an asshole! She's not mad at you, just worried."

"How the fuck you know that? She sure sounds fuckin' mad!" He growled back at Norman.

"Because I'm not a feral hillbilly that was raised by raccoons." He shot back. "Now go on! And be nice."

Grady gave him a disgruntled look before dragging himself out from under the tank. He was flat on his back in the mud, but Anna's piercing gaze found his own immediately. He let his head fall back, hitting the ground with a soft thud while smiling sheepishly up at Anna. She had her hands on her hips and was trying hard to keep a straight face, staring down at him with frustration. "Why are you out of bed?"

"Ohh Coon-Ass, you're busted." Gordo laughed loudly.

"I-I uhh, had to.." Grady trailed off, trying hard to think of a good excuse for Anna. He scratched at the good side of his head with a screwdriver. "Umm…"

"Grad, are you not supposed to be out of bed?" Bible sounded like an annoyed mother goose.

"No Boyd, he is not supposed to be out of bed." Anna answered Bible, but her eyes never strayed from Grady.

"Well shit" Grady mumbled defeatedly, at a loss for words.

Anna sighed loudly and held out her hand, motioning for Grady to get up. "C'mon, have you eaten yet?"

He smirked at her and chuckled, throwing his tools down in the mud. "Nah I haven't." He reached for her hand and heaved himself up off the ground, thankful that the dizzy spells from moving too fast seemed to be behind him.

Anna arched an eyebrow at him, "next time I'll know to put you in restraints. Didn't peg you for a runner." She pulled on his hand, intent on leading him to the kitchen to get him some food, and then back to bed. Grady sighed loudly and reluctantly fell into step behind her.

"I don't need a fuckin' babysitter ya know. I ain't dying er nothin'." He tried to sound defiant, but it came out much more passive than he intended. Grady found himself incapable of being cruel to Anna, no matter how irritated he was. Especially after the kiss that morning, which he still had several searing questions about.

She turned on him on a dime and all of a sudden he felt a surprise of contact on his right cheek. The slap, if you could even call it that, startled him. A wave of rage swept across his face before he could stop himself. Temper on the verge of blowing, he glared at her with wildfire in his eyes, but she was staring right back at him with worry and concern etched across her face. He somehow managed to rein in his temper after taking in Anna's features. His anger quickly dissipated and was replaced with shock and confusion. "Did you even see me coming?" She asked him pointedly.

Grady's face fell and he looked down at his boots, he hadn't even seen her lift her arm to swing at him. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She snorted at him. "Food, and then back to bed for you. You wanna roll out with the rest of your crew in the morning, I suggest you follow your doctor's orders."

"Yes ma'am" he sounded like a scolded child. Anna pulled on his hand again and the two left the rest of the crew at _Fury_ and headed for the kitchen.

"Enjoy your date Coon-Ass" Don called to them from the top of the tank. Grady's eyes widened with alarm and he stopped dead in his tracks, looking back at his Sergeant like a deer caught in headlights.

Anna rolled her eyes and snickered, "Thanks for that Sarge." He gave her a little salute and smirk.

Grady was still frozen solid, gawking up at Don stupidly, before Anna pulled on his hand again, "It's not a date Grad, I'm just feeding you. Let's go." She tugged on his hand a little harder, "Coon-Ass! Food, c'mon let's move." Finally, he relented and the oddball pair disappeared into camp.

"She's got him wrapped around her finger and it ain't even been a week." Don sighed loudly, and Bible snorted a laugh in reply.

They sat down at a table in the kitchen tent together and Grady didn't waste any time inhaling his food. Anna watched him, trying hard to hide her disgust at his behavior. "Grady, sweetie. You need to learn how to chew, and breathe. The food isn't going anywhere."

He looked up at her in surprise, almost like he had forgotten she was sitting there with him. He straightened up in his seat and swallowed his mouthful of food down hard. "Sorry" he mumbled out, trying to hide his embarrassment. He picked up his fork and consciously took smaller bites of food, remembering that he once had table manners. His Grandmother had made sure of that at least. "Fuckin' starvin', I slept right through lunch. Whadja give me, horse tranquilizers?"

Anna smirked and shrugged innocently, "pretty much, yeah."

Grady snorted at her around a mouthful of food. "Felt like was inna coma when I finally woke up."

She rolled her eyes at him, "you were fine. I checked on you a few times, and cleaned your stitches too while you were out, so you're welcome." Anna grinned wickedly at him. "I gotta say though, I've never seen a human being drool as much as you." Grady's eyes widened at her words and his face flushed bright red. Anna couldn't help but laugh out loud at his reaction. "I mean, I've treated Saint Bernards and Mastiffs that you could certainly give a run for their money." She struggled to suppress her laughter as his face grew redder.

Grady shook his head and tried hard to brush off her teasing, "told ya I didn' want any fuckin' drugs."

"Next time I'll put a bucket next to your bed." She snickered at him. "Here" she slid over her barely picked at plate of food, "you can finish mine. I'm not hungry."

He watched her quietly for a moment, eyebrows furrowed with concern. "You sure? Didn't eat breakfast neither."

Anna sighed at him, "well I didn't have the greatest of days Grad." She ran her hands through her long brunette hair, fingers catching on some tangles. Grady finally took a breath from inhaling cold spaghetti and really looked at her. She was drained, dead on her feet exhausted. The dark circles under her eyes were evidence that she never got a nap in during the day. Grady remained silent while Anna chewed aggressively at her thumbnail, unshed tears made her ocean blue eyes glisten. "Jack died this afternoon."

Grady let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Fuck…" Anna sniffed hard, nodding in agreement. "I thought you said he was stable an' doin' good? The fuck happen'd?" The question came rushing out of him before he could stop it, realizing too late it was a very insensitive thing to ask at that moment, especially when Anna was on the verge of full blown crying.

She continued her violent assault on her thumb, avoiding Grady's eyes. "He went septic, blood pressure tanked, cardiac arrest." She managed to croak out, her voice hoarse and pained.

"Septic?" Grady rolled his eyes at himself. _Stop asking stupid questions you dumbass._

"His organs stopped working because of an infection." She explained patiently. "We didn't get to his leg in time." Tears began to leak from her eyes and roll down her cheeks. "Doctor Wilson wanted to wait after he came in from being shot. One of the bullets punctured his femoral artery. We got the bleeding under control, but I still wanted to amputate immediately. Jack had been out in the field for almost two days and didn't get antibiotics soon enough."

Grady resisted the urge to ask her what a femoral artery was, he'd question Boyd about it later. He sat still and quiet for a long moment, not familiar with the act of comforting people, he felt like a fish out of water as Anna silently cried next him. Finally, he swallowed hard and turned in his chair, pulling himself in as close as he could to her, trying to offer some form of solace. "I'm really sorry Anna." He said quietly. She pulled her knees up to her chest, curling up in a ball as best she could on the flimsy folding chair.

"Wilson out ranked me," she continued. Tears flowing freely down her face, she sniffed hard again. "Even though I made the right call, Jack laid there for another 24 hours, infection slowly killing him." She turned and met Grady's eyes, "I tried so hard to save him Grad. _We_ tried so hard! And he still fucking died...sometimes I feel so useless over here. Nothing I do makes a goddamn difference." Anna choked back a sob and let her forehead hit her knees, her shoulders shook as the overwhelming grief of losing another patient finally consumed her.

Grady scooted towards her seat even closer, straddling her chair and leaning in until his chest made contact with her shoulder. He felt some strange, unrecognizable pull on his heart. It was different from the flutter he had become accustomed too whenever Anna met his eyes, this new feeling was different. This was an instinctual urge to protect her from whatever was hurting her, do whatever he could to take her pain away. Something very similar to what he felt as he helplessly watched his father beat the shit out of his mother and sisters when he was a child, except he wasn't a helpless little kid anymore.

He carefully placed a comforting hand on her back and leaned into her body, resting his forehead on her cheek. "Hey, hey, hey. C'mon now." He tried desperately to console her. It felt awkward, but he attempted nonetheless. "You did everthin' you could to save 'im." Can't beat yerself up 'bout a call that ain't yours...an' don't ever call yerself useless. Yer like fuckin' Wonder Woman over 'ere." He hesitated, and then softly kissed her cheek. "You saved my dumb ass."

Anna huffed out a short laugh and lifted her head off her knees. Eyes still pooling with tears, she gave Grady a small smirk and shook her head softly. "You we're lucky."

"Nah bullshit." Grady shot back at her. "I was ripped to shreds an' barely alive. You saved my ass. No luck. Jus' you fightin' your fight." He rubbed small circles across her back, their faces barely six inches apart, he fought the urge to close the distance and kiss her again. Licking his lips, he swallowed down the wave of unrelenting desire before it could consume him entirely.

Anna cleared her throat and let her feet drop back to the ground. "Thanks Grady. You have no idea how much that means. Especially after the day I've had." She nodded towards his plate of food. "Now finish eating so we can both go to bed. It's late, and I'm seriously considering tranquilizing myself tonight."

Grady snorted through a huge mouthful of food. "Careful wit' that, 'pparantely it makes you drool." Anna barked out a laugh and playfully shoved his shoulder.

It was pitch black outside by the time Grady had inhaled the last of Anna's dinner. Camp was relatively calm as they headed back to the aid tent, arms brushing against one anothers as they walked together, much closer than necessary. The sky was filled with an infinite number of stars, they flickered like tiny candles above them. It was a cloudless night, a little chilly, but still beautiful, almost serene. The wind kicked up all of a sudden and Anna curled her arms around her chest, shivering hard. She was walking on his good side, so Grady caught the movement from next to him. "You cold?" Anna nodded, and without hesitation he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close to his body. They walked together quietly for a little bit before Grady couldn't stand the silence any longer. "Ask you somethin'?" He blurted out before he even knew what he was doing.

She looked up at him, only slightly suspicious, she knew what was coming. "Shoot."

He faltered for a moment, searching for the right words. "I…" He tried to start, but stuttered and struggled with getting what he wanted to say out of his mouth.

She didn't bother waiting for him to find the words. "You wanna know why I kissed you this morning?"

Grady barked out a strangled laugh, he stopped them under a dim overhead lamp at the supply tent. He scratched at the back of his head nervously, doing anything to avoid her shining blue eyes. "Yeah..." was all he managed to pathetically mumble out.

Anna remained silent, observing him critically. He fidgeted under her gaze, waiting anxiously for her answer. She made him wait for a minute, making him feel nervous and slightly self conscious. A man like Grady needed to be kept in line just a little bit, even if it meant taking him down a peg or two. He had a eere of overconfidence and cockiness to him that could easily get him into trouble if no one was around to keep his attitude in check. Usually it was Bible or Don that chastised him when his behavior became abhorrent, but Anna wasn't even letting him get that far. She was cutting him off at his knees before his ego even made it to his head.

"Why-why didja kiss me?" He finally asked her in his own words, just a hint of a tremble detectable in his voice.

Anna studied him carefully under the dirty yellow light. Grady's deep brown eyes were soft and vulnerable. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he grew increasingly impatient for an answer. She was testing him, waiting to see if his temper would snap or if he had the capability of controlling himself. His crew called him feral, rabid, compared him to a wild animal on a regular basis. But Anna saw more in him, she knew he could be more if given the chance.

She caught his eyes with her own, forcing him to look at her. Anna finally smiled up at him warmly and reached for his hands. He was pulling on his knuckles, a nervous tick he had developed to keep himself busy whenever he wasn't smoking or loading the canon. Her touch, no matter how slight it was, calmed him almost instantly. It reassured him that he wasn't some uncivilized creature that didn't deserve any natural human interaction. Deep down, Grady wanted what everyone else in the world wanted, to not be lonely.

Anna held onto his hands tightly, fingers rubbed across his scabbed and swollen joints. Satisfied with his patience, she finally answered him. "I kissed you because it was what we both needed in that moment. We're both alive, surviving in this shithole country and no matter how lonely we feel, we don't have to fight alone."

He swallowed hard at her words. So she felt exactly the same way. A small smirk formed across his lips, but he stayed quiet, sensing she had more to say. "You put on this act, make people think that you are cold and uncaring. But you see, I met you when you were at your most vulnerable. I saw what you're like with your guard down, and something tells me there is a lot more to you than most people give you credit for, Grady. And if kissing you helps you remember that you are a person who is allowed to have feelings other than constant rage, I'll do it again, and again."

Grady blew out a long, surprised breath. She had read him like an open fucking book, cover to cover. He stood stone solid in front of her, slack jawed and speechless. She couldn't help but cock a pointed eyebrow at him, "Told you I almost majored in psychology. You're not that hard to read sweetheart." Anna slowly pulled herself into his body until her chest rested softly against his. She guided his hands to her hips, setting them on her subtle curves that dipped down to her ass. Grady watched her movements with a hint of trepidation in his eyes, still caught off guard by her forwardness. His body reacting much more tensely than he would have expected. She reached up on her tip toes and grabbed the nape of his neck, massaging it tenderly, "Grad, just breathe, and relax." Anna smiled her breathtaking smile at him and his heart and stomach fluttered and flipped at the same time.

Her blue eyes bore deeply into his chocolate brown ones and almost immediately the tension in his body softened. He lowered his head and his lips met hers with a crashing need. It caught Anna a little off guard and she stumbled backwards at the contact. Strong hands gripped her hips tightly, pulling her back against his body. And she kissed him back, again, with the same heat and desire she had that morning. Her arms snaked up his shoulders and around his neck, gripping at the back of his head as gently as she could, mindful to not pull on his stitches. She partly her lips slightly to suck in a heavy breath and his tongue took the opportunity to dart past her teeth, tangling with hers.

Electricity shot through Grady's body when she dug her nails into his shoulder, reacting with more enthusiasm than he expected. His hands moved to wrap around her waist, pulling her flush against his body. Grady crouched down even lower, his broad shoulders engulfed her petite frame, lips desperate for more contact. He refused to come up for air, so caught up in the heat radiating between their bodies that he had decided that oxygen wasn't a necessity. Anna curled her fingers through the longer hair on the top of his head and a mix between a growl and a groan rumbled through his chest.

"Sorry" she gasped quickly, lightheaded from their flurry of wanting. "Did I hurt your head?"

"Don't matter" he inhaled sharply, lungs taking in as much air as they could. "I'm fine" he breathed deeply before diving back down to her mouth for more. She giggled softly through her nose as her lips met his again and Grady's body jolted once more. One hand wandered down her back and traced the curve of her ass while the other moved towards her head, his fingers tangling in her dark wavy hair.

A soft sound of pleasure escaped from her throat and it all but lit Grady on fire. He kissed her with more urgency, open palm squeezing down on the plumpness of her ass. Anna moaned in approval, she bit down playfully on his bottom lip before leaving a trail of kisses across his jawline and down his neck. She nipped at his skin and he growled at her again while burying his face in her hair. His tongue teased her earlobe and he was pinching the meat of her butt so hard he was sure there would be bruises in the shape of his fingers the next day. Anna dug her nails into the back of his neck as she continued to suck and nip at the sensitive skin right above his collarbone. It made Grady's hips buck involuntary, if he wasn't hard before, he certainly was now. He hoped that pants and the heavy cover-alls were enough to hide his arousal. A probing hand left her ass and he tipped her chin back up to his face, his touch so delicate and gentle that it surprised Anna, she didn't think he was capable of such softness. Their eyes met again, his dark, almost black with lust and a want — no, need for more. Every ounce of whatever self control he had left was focused on _not_ ripping her clothes off and throwing her down onto the hood of the supply truck.

This was good, enjoyable even, and something inside Grady told him that if he forced himself on her that she would not just cringe and submit like the women in his past always had. No, if he took this too far too fast, Anna would most likely tear his head off with her bare hands. But her eyes said something different, they were the clearest blue he had ever seen. Brighter than a summer sky reflecting off the ocean. Her pupils were dilated, wide with exhilaration from their moment of intensity. She pushed herself up onto her tip toes again, silently cursing herself for being so short, and pressed another heated kiss into his lips. It was hungry and desperate, like she was trying to suck the life out of his body. And just as he began to react, deepening the kiss, his hands trailing down her back and around the curves of her ass, Anna pulled away and pushed that damned hand against his chest again, forcing space in between their bodies like a silent order to cease fire. She inhaled deeply for a moment, desperately attempting to catch her breath. Grady did the same, his own breathing wild and labored while he tried to ignore the spinning in his head. Not a good idea to go oxygen deprived for so long with as bad of a head injury as his.

"Anna?" He whispered cautiously. She met his eyes and smiled her perfect smile at him, but her halting hand did not fall from his chest.

She snorted out a small laugh before sighing, long and content, "you're fucking trouble, Coon-Ass."

Grady chuckled deeply and attempted to take a step towards her, but the pressure against his chest told him the moment was over. "Anna" he repeated. Her eyes lifted from the ground and focused on his. They were back to their normal rich chocolate brown color, but this time Anna saw a hint of something different in them, pleading almost. Oh my god, was he giving her puppy dog eyes!? The look on his face just about melted her heart. His features were soft and submissive, not a hint of irritation or anger evident anywhere. His eyebrows raised up to his forehead and a small smirk played across his lips. "Anna" he said again, waiting for any reply from her.

Anna stifled a giggle at the site of huge, ornery redneck Grady standing in front of her looking about as innocent and lighthearted as a ten year old boy. She finally dropped the hand from his chest that was acting as a barrier between them and instead held it out, offering him to take it. "C'mon, it's late. You have a very busy day tomorrow and we both need sleep." She turned on her heel and started back towards the aid tent. Grady silently fell into step behind her, gripping her hand tightly, the smirk on his lips had turned into a full blown ear to ear smile.

**Writing intimate scenes is a learning curve for me, I still feel like I'm not all that good at it, but I'm working on it. So during the movie we unfortunately don't really see much of Grady's personality besides him being a butthead, but there is an AMAZING deleted scene on youtube of Grady and Don. I encourage you to watch it (it's short) and it gives you an insight on how much Grady is really struggling and he's not just a hard cold asshole that he's made out to be. It's called Fury deleted scene - Nervous Soldier. That's kind of what I'm trying to base his personality off of. Reviews make me happy! **


	9. Chapter 9: Back to Work

**RIP to my hard drive with all my rough drafts, notes, copies...basically EVERYTHING! Gone, lost forever...Which is why this took so damn long...do yourself a favor if you write, put multiple copies of your work in different places...I'm so sad. I hope you like this long ass chapter. sigh...**

For the very first time in his life, Private Norman Ellison sat in a tank. The assistant driver's seat still smelled of bleach and blood, the only remnants left of its previous occupant. '_Red'_ was the only name Norman knew the man by, but the half of his face he had scooped into a bucket was now forever seared into his memory. A violent wave of nausea gripped his stomach like a vice at the thought. He tried desperately to focus on his breathing in an attempt to calm the uncontrollable fits of trembling that crept up his spine without any warning.

During the past nine weeks of his life, Norman had come very close to having what he assumed were panic attacks on numerous occasions. Basic training brought on some good periods of terror, so did the plane touching down at the airbase in North Africa. But in this moment, sitting stone silent in _Fury_, his body practically paralyzed with fear, Norman was certain that this feeling was truly a full blown panic attack. He wasn't exactly sure what his purpose was in the tank at that moment, to which he was extremely grateful for. The less he had to concentrate on right now, the better. Not shitting himself was high up on the list of things to focus on, along with not being a disappointment to Sergeant Collier.

The tank jerked and jolted when Gordo shifted gears, and the unexpected movement almost made Norman jump out of his skin. His eyes quickly darted around their surroundings, searching the landscape for any potential threats. There was nothing but empty wasteland as far as he could see. Still, he squeezed the grip of the mounted 30 caliber in front of him with sweaty hands, his trigger finger wildly tapped the side of the gun with nervous anticipation.

Desperate for something to calm his frayed nerves, Norman watched Gordo cautiously out of the corner of his eye. The driver seemed fairly uninterested with their entire situation as he steered _Fury_ straight on through the endless empty crop fields. Gordo stared forward blankly, his expression neutral, shoulders slumped, and his head bouncing along with the harsh movements of the tank. He had a bottle of wine in his lap that he kept sneaking sips from. Norman allowed himself to relax just a fraction when he realized that Gordo didn't seem to have a concern in the world at the time being.

His other three crew members were behind him, sitting on top of _Fury_ as it trudged along the countryside. The lack of chatter through the intercoms helped settle him. No talking meant no action, which meant no danger. Norman released his grip on the gun in front of him and wiped his sweaty palms down the front of his pants. Gordo ran over a particularly rough piece of terrain and it sent _Fury_ jostling and shaking as it shifted to navigate the harsh ground. A pitiful groan of misery echoed through Norman's earpiece in his helmet.

Grady was not doing well on his first voyage back on the tank.

Norman gulped hard, willing his body with every fiber of his being to take a breath and turn in his seat to study the three men sitting behind him. Sergeant Collier, Boyd, and Grady all looked just as unenthusiastic about their cross country trek as Gordo did. Grady sat on top of _Fury_ with the upper half of his body draped lazily over the 50 caliber, his head cradled in his arms, trying to protect it from the tank's merciless jerking and rumbling. His feet dangled down into the hatch just in front of him, the same hole that Boyd was standing in. If the man hadn't been making miserable sounds of agony, Norman would have thought for sure Grady was asleep.

Bible was leaning back against the frame of the hatch, hands in his pockets and his eyes distant, staring off into the endless wasteland before them. For once he didn't have his nose stuck in his bible, or a cigarette perched between his lips, a rare sight to see. Norman managed to force out a small smile. Seeing Bible completely unfazed by their current situation helped ease his own nerves just a fraction more.

Every so often Boyd's attention flicked towards Grady, his face washed over with concern, checking quickly to make sure his best friend hadn't passed out, or fallen off the tank with no one noticing.

Grady's eyes were only half open, completely unfocused on the world around him. He was sickeningly pale and his face and shirt were drenched in sweat, obvious clues that Coon-Ass did not feel well at all.

The tank rumbled and shook again and Grady moaned even louder. Norman couldn't help but huff a quiet laugh at Grady's dramatics, forgetting he was hooked up to the tank's coms. Don immediately turned sharply towards him, meeting his eyes, and gave him a stern glare of disapproval. He frowned, and made a spinning gesture with his finger, instructing Norman to turn back around and watch the road.

Norman gulped hard and quickly obeyed, grabbing the 30 caliber's grip, his trigger finger ready and waiting to fire at a moment's notice. _Fury_ shifted hard again, jerking forward violently and Norman heard Grady yelp and whimper through the intercom at the tank's unforgiving motion. Gordo sighed and shook his head, muttering in Spainish under his breath.

The pathetic sounds emanating from the man next to him set Bible on alert. He turned towards his best friend and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You doing okay Grad?" He questioned. Everyone's coms were on so he didn't bother trying to talk over the roar of the engine.

Grady swallowed hard and nodded weakly, not bothering to lift his head up off his arms. "Think I may puke." He mumbled incoherently.

Bible chuckled with mild amusement and patted his shoulder softly, "just give me fair warning so I can get out of firing range." Grady moaned again when the tank hit another rocky patch of ground and Don couldn't help but snort and roll his eyes in annoyance.

He was standing in the turret hatch of the tank, binoculars in one hand and handheld radio in the other, trying hard to hide his frustration with the idiot redneck that had gotten himself shot. "Coon-Ass, you gonna whine like a baby the whole ride there? Cause if you are you can go down and sit in Norman's seat to bug the fuck outta Gordo and the kid can come up here."

Grady opened his eyes a fraction wider and snorted with resentment, "Like to see that scrawny ass kid load when time comes. That's jus' askin' for a fuckin' ass rapin'."

Shaking his head, Bible chuckled loudly and Don joined in with his barking laugh. "Then turn your goddamn intercom off if you're gonna keep whimperin' like a little bitch. I'm sicka listenin' to you."

Grady shut his eyes tight and forced himself to stay quiet. No way he was going to get bumped down into the second driver seat and let the kid ride up top, even though his head was pounding in unison with the roar of the tank engine so badly that it crippled his body with unforgiving nausea.

At that moment, Grady deeply regretted not accepting Anna's offer to ride with her in the medic truck. Every muscle in his body ached down to his very core, his head felt like he was swimming through cement, and his stomach flipped so violently he was sure Bible was going to end up covered in vomit sooner rather than later. But his crew members needed him back on the tank. His gunshot vacation was officially over, it was back to work no matter how shitty he felt.

Earlier that morning, it had been so early in fact that the sun hadn't even begun to peak over the horizon, when a very apprehensive tap to his shoulder woke him up from his last night of blissful sleep in the aid tent. At first, Grady decided to ignore whomever was so annoyingly nudging him awake at four o'clock in the morning, but the poking at his shoulder did not relent. And soon he could hear the faintest calling of his name, '_Grady. Grady wake up. Grady.' _The voice was quiet and distant, until he realized he was laying on his good ear. The person calling him was actually almost shouting his name.

He kept his eyes closed tight and burrowed his head deeper into the pillows, intent on drowning out who ever insisted on waking him. He figured it wasn't Don, he would have gotten whooped on by now if it was. He didn't smell food, so it wasn't Gordo, or coffee, so that ruled out Boyd. So that left Anna, or the kid, Norman. Using his very limited faculties at the ridiculous morning hour, he chanced the thought of now after not one, but two very enjoyable intimate moments they had shared, Anna probably would have been a little more gentle and affectionate about waking him up so early.

So that left only one person, the kid. Norman continued his assault on Grady's shoulder, now resorting to flat out shaking him. '_Grady, c'mon man. Please wake up! Grady!' _The trembling in Norman's voice made him smile like a sinister predator, he loved that this kid was absolutely petrified of him.

Groaning inwardly with frustration, Grady finally gave up ignoring the boy's pleas. His eyes shot open and he flung himself upright to face the kid. "The fuck you want!?" He growled menacingly. For a moment he regretted his theatrics to scare Norman, his head spinning like a pinwheel in a windstorm from moving so violently. The kid didn't disappoint though, jumping back from Grady's bed a good six feet, hands up in surrender and eyes wide with terror.

Norman gulped and stuttered in a flustered panic. "Sereg-Sergeant Collier sent me to get you. We're leaving in an hour. Something about a rescue mission."

Grady sighed loudly and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, running his hands through the longer hair on top of his head, making it stick out wildly in every direction. The perfect touch to make Coon-Ass look all the more crazier. The bandage from the side of his head must have fallen off in the middle of the night, he could feel the cool morning breeze stinging his stitches. Norman was still standing next to his bed, probably partially frozen in fear and confused about what to do now that Grady was awake.

Grady rolled his eyes, "fuckin' breakfast. Now." He snarled at the boy. "Don't you ever fuckin' wake me up 'less you got food or coffee waitin' for me!" Norman nodded and quickly scurried out of the tent, heading straight for the kitchens. Grady shook his head and chuckled to himself in amusement, enjoying that Norman was so easy to scare.

Now slightly more alert, he finally realized the aid tent was alive with commotion. Soldiers and nurses rushed around him, stuffing various items in packs and crates. They were grabbing everything from surgical supplies to extra blankets. Grady's eyes scanned the tent in confusion, he knew the infantry was leaving, but why all the medics were packing up was a mystery to him. He found Anna easily through the activity, noticing that his eyesight was even more improved from yesterday.

"Anna! Hey!" He shouted to her over the commotion in the tent. She was standing a few beds away in front of a supply cabinet, hastily shoving various medical items into her own pack. She turned at the sound of Grady's voice and managed to pull her lips into a small smile. She looked thoroughly exhausted to the bone, four hours of sleep had not nearly been enough time to recover from the insanity of the past two days.

Deep purple shadows haunted her usual brilliant blue eyes, her warm welcoming smile replaced with a thin lipped grimace of irritation. Concerned by the unfamiliar features troubling her face, Grady managed to roll himself out of bed, shove his feet into his waiting boots, and made it over to Anna with the gracefulness of a charging bull in a matter of minutes.

"Whoa, hey" she reached out to him quickly, putting a steadying hand on his arm. "Slow down hun. You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He attempted to reassure her, but his voice betrayed him, sounding weak and shaky from getting up so fast. "The fuck is goin' on? Why you packin'? You leavin?"

Anna couldn't help but let a small sigh of exhaustion escape her lips. "Course I'm leaving Grady."

Confused by the shortness of her answer, he gently tried for more information. "Well...where're ya goin'?"

Rolling her eyes, she threw extra bandages into her pack with more force than necessary. "Probably the same place you're going, Grad. I'm the infantry field medic, I follow the platoon."

Grady's eyes widened in surprise, "yer followin' us? On this fuckin' crazy ass rescue mission?" His voice rose high with alarm as he spoke.

Anna couldn't help but smirk at the concern in his voice. "I always do Grady, that's my job. I've been following behind you guys for years."

"No shit."

"I shit you not sir. You've just never noticed."

He swallowed hard, shaking his head with displeasure. "That's fuckin' nuts. You can't follow us out, it ain't safe."

Anna scoffed at him, "I know it isn't safe. I've been doing it since Normandy. What, did you think I was just a base medic that sat on my ass and crocheted scarves once the infantry left?"

Grady could only blink at her. "I don't…"

"Look, Grad, I appreciate your concern, really. But I can handle myself, been doing it for years." She gave his arm a strong squeeze, offering him some comfort.

"I know that...I didn't mean—"

"The medic truck is the second to last vehicle in the column. We're pretty far from any real danger." She mustered up a genuine Anna smile for him, before adding dryly, "that is unless we get ambushed from behind. Then we're fucking screwed." She burst out laughing at the look of pure horror painted across Grady's face.

"It was a joke!" She sputtered out. "Dear lord Grady, calm down before you pop a stitch in your head!"

His lips quirked up into a grin almost involuntarily at the beautiful song of her laughter. She almost sounded like herself for a moment. "Not a funny joke." He tried to say as straight faced as he could. "Not a funny joke at all."

Anna shrugged at him with amusement. "It is if you have a morbid sense of humor."

She studied him quietly for a moment while his attention was on tying up his boots. He definitely looked much better, healthy color back in his face from restful sleep and hearty meals over the past few days. The dark stubble creeping across more of his jaw and cheeks and the greasiness of his hair was evidence that he only ever had the one shower. But his appearance was still a massive improvement from a week ago when he had been dragged into her aid tent, covered in his own blood and half dead.

She hesitated a moment, and then blurted out without really thinking. "You feeling okay this morning? You can hitch a ride with me in the medic truck if you don't feel like you're up for the tank just yet."

Grady met her eyes for a moment before a lopsided grin pulled at his lips. "Nah, I gotta get back to the fuckin' tank. Can't use the bullet to the head 'scuse forever. 'Sides I gotta master cylinder to replace 'fore we can even roll out." He paused, brows furrowed in confusion as he watched her face fall ever so slightly. At least that's what he thought he saw, but she rebounded almost immediately. "Thanks for offerin' though."

She could only nod, lips pressed closed tightly, obviously trying to bite back her unsaid words. She threw some last essential items into her pack before buckling it closed. "Just...do me a favor and don't get shot in the head again, please?"

He froze at her words, her voice filled with so much concern for him practically stunned him into silence. Grady nodded once, carefully assessing the moment. He leaned his body into hers ever so slightly, and Anna moved to turn towards him, meeting his chocolate brown eyes with worry clear across her face.

"Anna…" he finally managed to whisper softly, feeling his body pull closer to hers like an unstoppable gravity. He ducked his head towards her, gaze focused on her lips. Anna watched him move, his objective obviously clear. She swallowed hard and began to raise herself onto her tiptoes, intent on meeting him in the middle, when a familiar younger voice shouted out his name.

"_Grady!"_

Norman's voice called to him from the door of the tent. He was holding up a plate of breakfast and a mug of coffee.

"_We've got shit to fix man, c'mon!"_

Anna retreated, falling back down to her feet and taking a purposeful step backwards. Sighing quietly in defeat, the moment lost.

Grady snarled under his breath and waved the boy off. "Yeah yeah, gimme a minute."

"You gotta get going." She forced out a strained smile. "Let me put a bandage over your stitches first."

Grady nodded, clearly deflated. "Yeah, please." He managed to mumble out.

"You take aspirin yet this morning?" Anna was in full nurse mode now, retrieving gauze, disinfectant, and a bandage and tape from the almost empty cabinet in front of her.

"Not yet."

"Make sure you do with breakfast. Don't forget." She cupped his chin gently, pulling his head down to her level to clean his stitches and bandage his head.

Grady could only smile and comply. "Yes ma'am."

Anna worked quickly, wiping away any dirt and discharge from his head wound before taping gauze down across the expanse of sutures. "Another week and these can come out." She said quietly.

"Really?" Grady perked up at the thought of being rid of the stitches.

Anna nodded. "Yeah, your head looks good. Healing well. Although…" She faltered, cutting herself off before finishing her train of thought.

"What?" His eyes snapped towards her with alarm.

"It's nothing." She shook her head slowly. "It's just, if I had it my way, I'd give you another dose of penicillin. But that's probably only because I'm paranoid, on account of Jack…" She trailed off again, the rest of her words not needing to be said.

"Well if you got 'nough to spare a dose for me, gimme it. I'll take it wit' no fight." He replied, hoping his voice sounded willing and grateful.

Anna quirked an eyebrow at him. "It's another shot, Grad."

He visibly tensed at the word. "...Oh."

She smirked at his reaction. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

He was quiet for a long moment while Anna secured the last pieces of tape to his head.

"Do it." He finally blurted out.

"Grady…"

"Nah I get it. Jack died 'cause of infection, yer just tryin' to look out for me. Least I can do is grow a pair and let you gimme a fuckin' shot." He gulped hard. "Go 'n get it. I'll do it."

"You sure?"

"Don' gimme a chance to talk m'self outta it! Just get the damn needle!" He waved her off trying to bark back, but it came out more of a strained yelp.

Wordlessly, Anna pulled a glass vial of golden liquid and a clean syringe out of the front pocket of her pack.

"Oh sumbitch…" Grady whimpered pathetically at the sight of the needle and Anna couldn't help but giggle at him.

"Drop your pants hun, I'll make it quick."

"Drop my _what?_" He stared at her incredulously, body frozen in place.

"Your pants." She stated again, drawing up a dose of penicillin into the syringe. "It's best given in the meat of your butt."

Grady made no offer to move, his eyes locked on the needle drawing liquid out of the vial.

Anna sighed, turning herself to hide the offending object from his eyesight. "C'mon you big baby, drop your pants. It will be over with in less than three seconds."

Grady gulped hard, fumbling to unclip his cover-alls, avoiding eye contact with her at all costs. "Didja stick a needle in my ass when I was unconscious too?"

Anna snorted with amusement. "You don't want to know what I did to you while you were unconscious, sweetheart."

Cover-alls pooled in a pile at his feet, he unbuttoned his pants, tugging them down just far enough to expose his bare backside, and turned to brace his elbows on the cabinet, shoulders bunched with tension. "Jus' get this fuckin' over wit' 'fore I change my—_unnnhhh_."

With no warning, Anna drove the needle into the meat of his butt and depressed the plunger of the syringe in one fluid motion. "There. All done. Big baby."

"Sneaky minx." Grady mumbled under his breath, buttoning his pants and quickly pulling up his cover-alls.

"You say something?" Anna called over her shoulder, packing the penicillin and syringe back into her bag.

His ears flushed bright red, grateful then that she had her back to him. "Said thank you."

"Mhm, sure you did."

"_Grady! C'mon man we gotta go!"_

Grady snarled at Norman's persistence. "Yeah, yeah. I heard ya the firs' time."

Anna couldn't help but sigh loudly. She gripped his forearm tightly, shining blue eyes locked with his brown ones. Catching the morning sunlight, she thought they almost looked golden. "Take care of yourself Grady. Don't forget to eat, take aspirin _before_ your head starts pounding. And keep your stitches clean."

Grady cocked a confused eyebrow at her, her words sounding too much like a final goodbye. "I will. But yer gonna be right 'hind us, right?"

She nodded, "I am. But...you know. I may not see you for a while."

"Nah," he smirked at the apprehension in her voice. "Can't get ridda me that easy."

Unexpected tears pricked at the corner of Anna's eyes. Huffing out a breath of a laugh, she threw her arms over Grady's shoulders and pulled him down into a crushing hug. "You better not get shot again." She whispered against his good ear.

He smiled into the crook of her neck, snaking his arms around her waist, he pulled her into an even tighter grip. "Won't. Promise."

Anna broke the hug first, weakly pushing against his chest, forcing distance between them. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes before they rolled down her cheeks.

"You gotta go." She sniffed. "Sergeant Collier is gonna skin your hide."

His eyes fell to his boots. "Yeah, yeah I do." Grady mumbled sadly. His hands finally fell from her waist and he turned back to his cot, retrieving the stolen pack from underneath it.

"Hey" she called, and Grady turned to face her one last time. "I'll be right behind you."

Grady nodded and gave her strained smile. He finally ducked out of the aid tent, forcing himself not to look back again, Norman trailing close behind him. His bottle of aspirin forgotten on the bedside table next to his cot.

And now hours later, riding on top of the tank, its unforgiving jerking and jostling threatening to split his head in half, Grady silently cursed himself for forgetting the bottle of pills next to his bed in the aid tent. As soon as they stopped, he was tracking Anna down and begging her for a shot of morphine — needles be damned.

Right now all his energy was focused on not passing out, or puking all over Boyd, and it was exhausting. He didn't give a single fuck in the world about what was going on around him, all he cared about was getting his head to fucking _stop_ spinning.

He faintly recalled Don's voice through the intercom in his helmet, barking instructions to the boy. Something about wolves hiding in sheep, and casting an eyeball. He didn't bother to open his eyes, the sun was too bright and the talking through the coms was too loud.

Grady wanted so badly to take his helmet off. The side of his head throbbed relentlessly and his hair was soaked with sweat, but he was certain that removing his helmet would also guarantee Top removing his head from his shoulders. So Grady squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could, cradled his head in his arms, and begged for the pain to take consciousness away from him.

"_She'll let you fuck her for a chocolate bar." _Gordo's voice echoed through the coms, and that was enough for Grady to curiously crack his eyes open. _Who'll fuck who now for a chocolate bar?_

"_That's not true." _Norman's voice answered back, sounding a little exasperated.

"_That's not true?"_ Gordo didn't sound convinced.

"_No."_ Norman barked back.

Intrigued by the conversation, Grady finally managed to force open his eyes and lift his head. Bible watched his cautious movements quietly, his face flooded with concern. The tank rolled past a beautiful blonde woman standing with a bicycle on the side of the road. Her hair floated around her shoulders softly in the wind. She looked tired, but definitely fuckable for a chocolate bar. Grady smirked, listening more intently to the conversation between Gordo and the kid. He could use a distraction from the pounding in his head.

"_Okay, it's not true." _Gordo answered flatly.

Grady chuckled to himself, hitting the talk button on the com line hanging from his neck. "It's completely fuckin' true. Or just give her some smokes, ain't gotta fuck 'round an' give her a full pack neither, fuckin' four'll do it."

"_Norm, don't disappoint Christ now. Don't let them lead you astray."_ Bible chastised.

"_You see, we can kill 'em but we can't fuck 'em 'cause it says so in the bible."_ Don's voice was humorous, teasing Boyd.

"_Stop, all right?"_ Bible huffed back. "_I'm done trying to convert you heathens. You mind if I continue to invade Germany?" _

"_Boyd, you think Jesus loves Hilter?" _Don continued his teasing.

Bible sighed_. "Do I think Jesus loves Hitler? I'd assume so, if Hitler accepted Jesus into his heart and got baptized, he'd be saved." _He paused for a moment before adding. "_It ain't gonna save him from man's justice." _

"_What about your regular-issue Nazi line trooper?"_

"_No I'm not gonna do this with you — "_

"_Is he going to heaven?" _

Bible shook his head. "_We've been talking 'bout the same dumb shit for three years. You know how I stand on it. You tryin' to rile me up now."_

Grady smiled mischievously, giving Bible's shoulder a soft punch. "Hey, what 'bout me, huh? Think you could save me? Sing me a hymn?"

"_Yeah, sure." _

"Sing Old Rugged Cross. I like the way your mouth moves when you sing." Grady joined in on the teasing, his head suddenly feeling much better, he reached up to poke at Bible's mustache.

"_Don't."_ Bible flinched backwards, slapping away Grady's hand next to his face.

"I like it!"

"_I'll sing it if you don't do that!"_ He slapped again, hands still in his jacket pockets. Grady dodged his swatting and continued to poke at his face.

"Lemme jus' touch yer mustache!"

"_Don't touch me! STOP!" _Bible tried his best to use his jacket as a shield, but Grady just kept on poking.

"I jus' wanna touch yer mustache!"

"_GRADY!" _

"Why does that bother you so much when I touch yer mustache?" He continued his relentless poking and prodding.

"_STOP! Boy, I'll shoot you! I'll shoot you I swear!" _Bible swung for Grady's head now, patience clearly spent.

"_All right, knock it off."_ Don punched Grady's thigh hard, ordering him to stop his incessant badgering. "_Knock off the horseplay."_

Smiling stupidly to himself, Grady finally gave up pestering Boyd and set his chin on the barrel of the 50 caliber, subdued by Don's reprimand. Bible settled back into the same spot, hands returned to his jacket pockets. The tank's coms fell quiet for a moment.

"_Boyd, you think Hitler would fuck one a us for a chocolate bar?" _Don's ridiculous question broke the silence.

Grady and Bible broke out in loud, barking laughter.

"_I hope so."_ Bible snorted out, and Norman's quiet chuckle bounced through the coms.

"_You know who'll fuck Grady for absolutely nothing?" _Bible stated flatly, wicked amusement clear in his voice.

"What?" Grady all but squawked out in surprise.

"_That cute little nurse you've been followin' around like a lost puppy dog all week."_ Don confirmed loudly.

"_That's the one."_ Bible nodded. "_Don't gotta give her any smokes or a chocolate bar either. She'll fuck you soon as you bat your eyelashes and say please." _He shook his head in disbelief. "_Don't know what you did to that girl, but you've got her completely hoodwinked."_

Grady could only blink at his two companions. "I was nice! You told me to be nice!"

"_You were lovestruck."_ Don chortled at him. "_It was adorable really. She had you wrapped around her pinky finger so fast."_

"I was not — "

"_Did you fuck her?" _

Grady's eyes almost bugged out of his skull. He could feel his ears go beet red, and he was thankful that hadn't taken his helmet off in that moment. "No! Jesus Christ, Top! I didn't."

"_Well why the fuck not!?"_

Grady sputtered, searching for any words. His brain was pounding a steady drum beat against his skull once again. "'Cause...it wasn't like that."

"_That hug this morning could've fooled me."_ Norman's voice said through the coms.

"_Ohh, so there was hugging huh?"_ Don teased. "_Was there more than just hugging?"_

Grady sighed and buried his head back into his arms. His cheeks were now definitely bright red. "Maybe…"

"_Ohhhh!" _

"_That'a boy, Coon-Ass!" _

"_You get some man!" _

Grady groaned loudly, shaking his head against his arms. "My fuckin' head hurts."


End file.
